Somewhere Only We Know
by BrittzandTana
Summary: Santana has blocked out all memories of her teenage lover, but when a memory comes to surface suddenly and inexplicably, she can't seem to get the girl out of her head. The girl she was sure she would never see again, the one who left her in pieces. But there was one place that only they knew, and maybe they would both find their way back. DANTANA STORY! AU! M for Mild Themes! :D
1. A Ruby

**A/N: Alright, on one hand, I'm sorry for posting another story, because this makes updates on the rest possibly even slower :/ On the other hand, I think you all will like this story, so I'm not that sorry haha.**

**This story is Somewhere Only We Know, if you didn't see that already haha. I haven't much advertised this story yet, mainly because I came up with the idea yesterday and wrote the first couple of chapters late last night and early this morning. Lol, but I've already got a pretty good grasp on the direction of the story, so I saw it fit to post already.**

**Just as a note, I'm not going to promise that this story will be any certain length, because it may end up being not particularly long. I mean, definitely at least 20k and hopefully at least reach 50k. Can't promise 100k like some of my other stories though.**

**Anyway, before we start this story, just a little pre-story stuff! If you haven't read my stories before, HI! I'm Tana! I write Dantana, Brittana, Quinntana, Emison and Karmy fics! I have four WIPs on this site, CD, IDDA, DYKILY, and this story (SOWK)! Plus two of my stories are being translated to French. :D**

**Anyway... just some things about how I work...**

**Italics are flashbacks and dreams, both of which will show up a lot in this story.**

**Bold is texts, emails, etc..**

**This story is a Dantana story, though as you'll see shortly, it starts of with brief Brittana. Don't worry, nothing like CD. POV is all first person, and will switch between Santana and Dani POV. So far, I've only switched between chapters, but in the case that I switch in a chapter, it will be signified by a clear _DANI_ or _SANTANA_.**

**I appreciate reviews, although they don't change my updating speed. Every fifty reviews, I give a shoutout. Basically, fiftieth reviewer gets a shoutout, 100th, 150th... etc etc. :D I'll try to answer every review, and some guest reviews I will answer on Twitter, at BrittzandTana :)**

**Ah... I think that's it for my blablabla :P I hope you enjoy the story ;D**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Glee!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

I heard the loud, blaring alarm coming from my side table before I was completely awake, and I instinctively groaned. I hated waking up early, mainly because it meant that I had to go to work. And I hated my job. Ten years, and you'd think that maybe I'd be able to find something that I liked to make a living with. But no such luck. These days, you seemed to have to be in LA in order to make a living as a singer, and I lived in New York.

I turned off my alarm and rolled out of bed grudgingly. I trudged into the kitchen, realizing that I wasn't wearing any clothes, but not really caring. The only other person in the house was my girlfriend Brittany, and she was probably in the bathroom.

After I guzzled some coffee down, I started to get ready for my long work day at the diner. I was a manager and part owner of the place—I shared the business with Rachel, who really didn't need the extra money. Rachel was my friend who I met the day I moved to New York. She was from Ohio, and while that may seem lame, she had made it big on Broadway since coming to New York.

Me? I came from a small town in Texas that was surrounded by trees, and then farms. One of those towns that people drove through in order to get from one big city to another. One of the towns where people only stopped for gas or to go to the bathroom.

Sure, I made it into a big college, and I got a halfway scholarship for it, but I wasn't anything special like Rachel was. I tried multiple times to get into the music business, or the acting business, but everyone who found me wanted me to go to Los Angeles, and I didn't really want to go to a city where I knew no one.

"Babe?" Brittany called.

"I'm up," I called back as I finished getting dressed. I walked into the bathroom, where Brittany already was, getting ready. "What's up?"

"I'm going out with Kurt after work today, so I won't see you until late tonight," she told me.

I nodded. "Alright."

Brittany's work started much earlier than mine, so she was gone before I could say much else to her. I just continued to get ready for the job that I hated. But at least I made money and I could support myself.

I went to work, just like every day, in a bad mood. During my lunch break, I skipped out on the meager lunch I'd brought with me and decided to take a nap in the back storage room. This was almost a regular thing, so no one bothered me the whole time.

However, something was different about this nap. I had a dream, and it wasn't like any dream I'd had before.

_She brushed her light brown hair out of her face and smiled at me. I loved her smile, and couldn't help but return it with a sweet one of my own. "What do you think would happen if we ran away together?" she asked me._

_I rolled my eyes. "I wouldn't ever run away," I stated. "Life is already hard enough when people are helping you through it. What are you supposed to do whenever it's just you?"_

_"__I guess we'll never know," she answered, looking back up at the sky. We were laying on soft, green grass, and she was watching the clouds. I was watching her._

_"__Do you want to run away?" I asked, concerned._

_"__No, it was just a thought," she decided, not meeting my eyes. I looked at her a second longer, and then looked up at the sky. "Anyway, it's not like we have long before we get to leave this place anyway."_

_She never liked Texas, and I had to say that I wasn't much of a fan of our home either. Sure, it was pretty, and the weather could even be described as nice most of the time. Unfortunately for us, though, our home happened to be the most red state in the US. Or in other words, we were surrounded by people who had completely different opinions from ours. The biggest problem was, though, that neither of us could feel comfortable with who we were when our families and friends were all against gay rights._

_She and I had realized we were gay when we were about thirteen, and through our own ways. We didn't even realize that we liked each other until we were fifteen, when we started dating. We never told anyone, though. In everyone else's eyes, we were still just best friends who sneaked off to hang out in the woods somewhere everyday._

_"__Yep, just one more school year left and then we can be off to college together," I agreed, smiling at the thought. After all these years, we would finally be able to be together openly. We were thinking of NYU, but maybe something else. It was a big decision, but New York looked like our best possibility. We just knew that we were going to go to the same school. There was no doubt about it._

_"__I can't wait," she told me, her voice dreamy sounding as she took my hand in her own. "It'll be just you and me."_

_I sighed happily. She'd always had it harder than I had, living here. My parents were more open than hers, and even though they didn't know I was gay, I had a feeling that they wouldn't care much if I told them. Her parents, however, would hate her. There wasn't a doubt. I'd heard them say things that made me absolutely positive about it. And she knew it too._

_"__Santana?" she said, turning her head to look at me._

_"__Yes?" I asked, looking back at her._

_"__I love you."_

_"__I love you, too, Dani."_

I woke up with a start, just before the end of my break. What the hell was that dream? No, that was the thing. It wasn't even a dream. It was a memory. One of the many memories that I'd buried so deep that I could barely recall most of them. Why was I remembering it all of the sudden?

Why was I thinking of her?

Why was I thinking of Dani?

"Boss, your shift is starting again," one of my employees called, knocking on the door of the storage room in case I was still sleeping.

"Thanks," I called, standing and pushing away thoughts of my dream. I didn't know why I was thinking of Dani again, but it couldn't be good that I was. I'd sworn to myself years ago that I had to forget her. It wasn't like I was going to see her again. It was highly unlikely.

I didn't need to open a closed wound.

So I wouldn't. I ignored all thoughts of Dani and Texas and the past. I had to look at where I was now. I was manager and part -time owner of a diner. I was dating Brittany. I had a new best friend, a new girlfriend, a new life. Eleven years since Dani. Eleven years since she left my life. I didn't need to think of anything before that.

But even as I started to work again, a different memory from twelve years ago drifted into mind. Sixteen years old, one year into our relationship.

_There was a tap on my window, and I immediately looked up. Only Dani ever came through my window. I hurried over to and pushed back the curtains, revealing my girlfriend. I gave her a wide smile and opened the window for her. She crawled in, and I noticed that she was holding something in her hands._

_"__What's that?" I asked curiously._

_"__Just something for the birthday girl," she said lamely, before a grin spread over her face._

_"__Dani, you didn't have to get me anything," I insisted._

_"__I know, this is for the _other_ Santana turning sixteen today," she joked. I rolled my eyes and tried to snatch my present from her. "Uh uh, I don't think so! Not yet."_

_"__When?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest._

_"__After I get a kiss for being the best girlfriend ever," Dani decided. I couldn't help but release a light laugh at that. I leaned toward her and pressed my lips softly to hers. "Alright, here," she said after we moved apart, handing me the box._

_I opened it up and saw the necklace. It was just a silver chain, but there was a beautiful ruby stone at the end of it. July's birthstone. My birthstone. I smiled. "It's beautiful," I admitted._

_"__Like you," Dani stated, before taking back the box. I gave her a curious look as she moved behind me. She brushed my hair aside, and I took all of it in my hand so that she could put the necklace around my neck. Once it was clasped, I let my hair fall over my shoulders and Dani moved back so that we were facing each other. "It looks just as good as I pictured it looking on you."_

_I smiled. "Thanks so much, I love it."_

_"__You're welcome," she said, smiling, her eyes still on the necklace. Slowly, though, they moved up to meet mine. She suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck and joined our lips together. She pushed her tongue into my mouth and I let out a quiet moan._

_And then I heard what we both knew was coming. "Santana! Come downstairs, your birthday breakfast is ready!"_

_We pulled apart, and I frowned. "Sorry, babe."_

_"__It's okay. Enjoy your birthday breakfast. Can we meet for lunch?" she asked. "I have something prepared."_

_"__Of course," I answered, smiling._

_"__You know where," she said, mostly out of our routine meeting arrangements. I always knew where, and so did she. It was somewhere only we knew, were no one would ever find us._

_"__Yep," I answered. She turned and headed for my window, but then she turned again one more time to face me._

_"__Happy Birthday, Santana," she said softly, and then she disappeared out my window._

I sighed as the memory floated away. It wasn't doing me any good thinking about Dani. None at all.

I pushed any more memories that might have started to appear away.

When it was time for me to go home, I started out of the diner. And behind me, the same employee that always woke me up called to me, "Happy Birthday, Santana!"

I half smiled, and then I left the diner.

* * *

**I'm not sure how great of a beginning this was, but trust me that as things start to be revealed, it'll get more interesting :) I know this story is probably the most AU of all the Dantana stories I've written, but I hope everyone will like it still :D Next chapter is Dani's POV. More will be revealed ;) Slowly, of course ;P**

**Please review though, and let me know your thoughts! You're also welcome to PM feedback as well of course! Oh, and follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana too :D If you tweet me that you read this, I'll follow you back :D**

**Anyway, I really hope you liked this first chapter and that it wasn't too different :S Have a good day loves! Please review!**


	2. A Song

**A/N: Chapter two! :D Dani time! :D**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Glee!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW! :D**

* * *

_Santana was about fifteen minutes late, but whatever frustration that had caused me completely disappeared when I saw her run into our spot in the woods, her hair down and falling over her shoulders. She was wearing my necklace still, and I couldn't help it as a smile stretched over my face._

_I had lunch all prepared in a little picnic basket that was sitting next to me, on the large blanket that I'd already spread out. This blanket, along with quite a few others, we kept in our little hut. We'd built the thing when we were just kids, but we'd done a surprisingly good job, considering it was d still up and sturdy. That was during the time that Santana and I were obsessed with using hammers and nails. Our fathers had been a little suspicious about where their tools had been disappearing to, but still no one had found our hiding place. Even now, when it'd been nearly eight years since we found it ourselves._

_"__What's all this?" Santana asked, but she had a grin on her face already._

_"__Lunch," I informed her, opening the picnic basket. I made us both grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Nothing entirely special, but I knew that Santana would appreciate it nonetheless._

_Santana quickly snatched a sandwich from the basket, as if fearing that I would charge her a kiss for it again. Of course, no one would've caught her complaining had that been the case._

_"__Good?" I asked her, seeking her approval._

_"__Of course it's good," Santana answered, giving me an unbelieving look. I couldn't help but blush. Santana was always making me blush._

_"__How was your birthday breakfast?" I asked, to make conversation._

_"__Boring. Well, actually it was fine, but it was boring compared to being with you," Santana stated dryly, and I couldn't help the small smile that appeared on my face. I loved that Santana loved spending time with me as much as I did with her. A couple of years earlier, I'd spent hours fearing that I was being too clingy of a friend and that Santana didn't like me like I liked her. Now, though, we'd been dating for about a year, and life couldn't be better._

_Well, except for the fact that we lived in the one place that I really didn't want to live. Actually, I had repeatedly fought with myself over whether or not I should run away. I didn't like my family, I didn't like my home. The only things I liked were my guitar, me and Santana's spot, and Santana. Sixteen years of living in a place, and you'd think you'd like more things._

_"__How was your morning?" Santana wondered, filing in the silence I'd created by not saying anything back to the Latina._

_"__Well, not as good as my afternoon is going to be," I said, meeting Santana's eyes and wiggling my eyebrows. She got my meaning immediately. No one would be looking for either of us until Santana's party later. So until then, we had all the time in the world to fool around._

_And luckily, our little handmade hut was big enough for such things. It was about six feet tall, and the room itself was about the size of a king size bed. It was built off of three trees, so it hadn't ever fallen down in its last six years of existing._

_And before Santana had arrived in our spot, I had taken the liberty of laying out all of our blankets and pillows in a comfortable way on the wooden floor of the hut._

_I was sure that one day Santana and I would be able to actually have sex in a real bed, but it seemed like that day was far away. Santana's parents never wanted to leave her home alone over night, and there were always people around at parties. My house was even worse than Santana's, because my mother was unemployed and was always home bitching about something._

_Until we could make love in a comfy bed, though, our little hut would have to do._

_After lunch, we disappeared into our hut for a few hours, and anyone who was listening around would probably be very confused at the sounds they were hearing. But no one ever came around those parts, which is why Santana and I had claimed it as our spot. The one place that only we knew, and no one would ever find us at._

I woke up with a heavy feeling in my chest. I knew very well what day it was. Santana's birthday. I took a deep breath and then let it out as a depressed sounding sigh. My depression only ever seemed to appear around this time of year, because besides Independence Day, Santana's birthday was the only interesting thing that had ever happened in July. And for the last eleven years, no celebrating. Just me feeling depressed.

I knew the depression would dissolve as August came, and I would be just as peppy as normal. For now though, I had to put on a fake smile and pretend that my heart wasn't weighing down on me.

"Dani!" came an excited male voice from outside my apartment, paired with an extremely annoying knocking.

"Go to hell Davis!" I yelled playfully. He knew that I hated noise in the mornings.

He took that as an invitation to come inside, and then he busted into my bedroom like nobody's business. I was sort of half naked, but it wasn't like he was going to stare. He was gay, and I was gay. Nothing was ever awkward between us.

"What're you so excited about?" I asked, anticipation coming through clearly.

"Neal called me back!" Davis announced, grinning from ear to ear. A similar splitting grin appeared on my face as well.

"Well judging from your smile, I guess he had good things to say," I assumed.

"He said, and I quote, 'The fact that a single person wrote and edited the song to perfection made it already a glittering work of art'," Davis quoted. "Followed by an assurance that we will be hearing your lovely voice on the radio any day now. After that, I did a little pushing, and he admitted that he thinks that the great Danielle Taylor would definitely not be a one hit wonder. Not to mention, he suggested that I set up a meeting between the two of you, to work out a contract for an _album_."

My jaw dropped. "Oh my gosh! Davis, you have truly outdone yourself!"

"I told you this Webster guy was worth giving a call!" Davis said proudly, smiling happily at me. "Anyway, we've still got a couple of days before your being swarmed on the streets. What do you say? Should we go party and lose ourselves for a few days?"

"I just woke up, Davis, maybe we should wait a little while before jumping into wasted land," I pointed out, rolling my eyes playfully at my best friend. "Plus, I don't really think I want to do anything today. Not in the mood."

"Oh right, it's what… July 15th? That suspicious day of every year where all you want to do is cry in your bed. Why is that again?" Davis tried. For the past five years that we'd known each other, he'd definitely picked up on my strange demeanor every July, and pinpointed the day where it was the worst. Today. July fifteenth.

"It's personal, Davis, and I don't just cry all day," I stated, my voice stern now. I didn't want to talk about Santana, not even to Davis. She wasn't something I liked to share with people. Sure, Davis knew that I was gay, and he knew pretty much what had happened in my life eleven years ago. But he didn't know about the girl that I was in love with all those years ago. The girl that I still couldn't stop thinking about for at least a month out of every year.

"Alright, alright, sorry. Maybe, though, getting out and getting a little drunk will make you feel better," Davis suggested.

"I think that would do exactly the opposite," I argued, climbing off of my bed and grabbing my robe. It was time for coffee.

"Come on Dani! Loosen up a bit!" Davis exclaimed.

"Maybe tomorrow, Davis, I have something I need to do today," I stated simply, walking past him and into the kitchen.

"What?" Davis pushed.

"Personal stuff," I answered, trying not to snap at him.

"Come on Dani, can't you let me just a little deeper into your mysterious past?" Davis pleaded. "We're best friends, aren't we? We've known each other for five years!"

I let out a sigh. Talking about her wasn't going to help anything, but Davis was right. We were best friends, and he deserved to know about the only girl that I'd ever really, truly loved, despite what had transpired since then. "Fine, but I'm only going to tell you a tiny piece, so that you at least know why I'm upset on this day every year."

"Ooh, good enough for me!" Davis exclaimed, sitting at one of my bar stools and grinning from ear to ear again. I let out a chuckle and rolled my eyes as I got my coffee machine to start making my much needed coffee.

"Okay well… you know what happened eleven years ago. But before any of that, there was this girl. She and I had known each other since we were eight—we met at school. We became really close, best friends. When I turned thirteen, I started to have doubts about my sexuality. I confided in her, and it turned out that she'd been having the same doubts about herself for practically a year. And well… we never told anyone except each other. And when we were fifteen, we got together," I stated.

"And what, this day eleven years ago was the day you left her before you… _you know_?" Davis asked.

I shook my head. "No, nothing like that. I never really left her, anyway. I mean, we never really broke up beforehand. No, July 15th is her birthday," I explained, shrugging. "It's just the one time I really ever think about her a lot. July is the one month where I think back and wish I'd done it all differently. The one month that I think I might still be in love with her, even after eleven years."

"Love's a weird thing," Davis decided. "Who knows, you might still be in love with her at age seventeen. But it's been eleven years after all. She's turning twenty-eight today. You have no idea what she's like now."

"I know," I said softly. "That's why sometimes I wish that I could go back and change all of my decisions."

"And where would you be?" Davis asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at me. I sighed, nodding. He was right, of course. I might have never ended up here. After all, Santana had always been the one with a real talent, at least in my opinion. "Any idea where she would be now, though? Maybe it wouldn't hurt to talk to her again."

I shook my head. "I mean, we always wanted to go to New York together I guess. But who knows if she went there?"

"Look her up on Facebook," Davis suggested.

"No way," I said, shaking my head. "I can't do that. I just… I can't."

"Fine. Tell me what her name is, and I'll look her up on Facebook," Davis decided.

"No! We… we can't. She probably hates me anyway, after what I did," I muttered, shaking my head. "Please Davis, it's hard enough just thinking about her. I don't want to see her pictures and her life and think about what would be different on her Facebook page if I was still there."

Davis sighed. "Fine, Dani. But you know, if you never try to contact her, you'll never find her."

I looked at my nearly finished coffee. "I know, Davis. I've known that for eleven years. But I'm sure she's built herself a life, and I never wanted to butt back into it. I imagine that would be worse than what already happened."

"Whatever you say Dani. I'm going to go out to the gay bar tonight. Hope I'll see you there. Try not to cry too much, alright?" Davis said softly.

"Bye," is all I said in return, and he left the apartment. Sighing, I poured myself a mug of coffee. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

**What is this _you know_ they keep talking about?! **

**Like? Please let me know in a quick review, or a PM if reviewing isn't you thing! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back :D**

**Be ready for the next chapter you guys, it explains a lot of what happened eleven years ago... c:**

**Have a great day loves! Please review! :D**


	3. A Note

**A/N: Some things are going to be revealed in this chapter... Sorry to keep you guys waiting ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Glee!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

"We need to talk," Brittany said almost as soon as she walked through the door.

"What about?" I questioned, tilting my head slightly.

"We need to break up," Brittany stated simply.

I blinked, completely taken aback by this sudden statement. "We what?"

"Look, Santana, I just don't think that we're meant to be. And we're both getting older. We both need to be looking for someone that we're going to be with forever," Brittany reasoned. I took a deep breath and nodded. No, I didn't think Brittany and I were meant to be, but that didn't meant I expected us to break up all of the sudden. "You agree?"

"Yes," I said, "you're right. Do you want me to move out?"

"No, I found a place," Brittany admitted. That's probably where she was with Kurt after work.

"Okay," is all I said, and for the next hour or so, Brittany gathered up all of her stuff. It looked as though she'd been slowly and steadily packing up her stuff for days. When she was done, we both gave each other a quick goodbye and then she left.

I didn't cry at all, and surprisingly, I was hardly even sad. Why was that? My girlfriend had just broken up with me on my birthday.

"Some birthday present," I muttered, shaking my head. Maybe this was what I needed. I could find someone that I would ultimately be happy with. How I was going to do that was unknown, but I was sure that I'd figure it out. Or maybe I wouldn't. For some reason, life felt so confusing right now. I didn't know what I wanted out of it, and I didn't know how I was going to even move forward. What did I have? Half of a diner, a couple good friends, and an apartment that I would now have to completely pay for.

Groaning, I fell onto my bed. I'd been staying up to wait for Brittany to get home, and now I wish I'd gone to sleep as soon as I'd gotten home. Certainly, this had been the worse birthday ever.

As I drifted off to sleep, finally, I felt another weird dream sneaking up on me. Or really, just another memory.

_"__Have you seen Dani, Mami?" I asked my mom as I walked inside my house. She hadn't been at school, and it was only the fourth day of senior year. Why she hadn't shown up, I had no idea._

_"__No, wasn't she at school?" Mami asked me, tilting her head._

_"__No," I answered, suddenly getting a little worried._

_"__I'm sure she just had a doctor's appointment or something," my mom tried to comfort me, giving me a careful smile. Even though I'd never told my mom about us, I was pretty sure that she knew about mine and Dani's relationship._

_"__Sure," I said, nodding, but not really believing my mom's suggestion._

_There was a sudden knock on the door and, hoping it was Dani, I quickly turned back around and opened the door. But no, it was Dani's parents. That couldn't be good. "Mr. and Mrs. Tyler?"_

_"__Have you seen Dani?" Mrs. Tyler asked immediately, her voice sounding just as worried as I was starting to feel._

_"__What do you mean? You don't know where she is?" my mom asked, stepping up next to me in front of the door._

_"__No," Mrs. Tyler answered._

_Mr. Tyler continued to explain to us the situation, "We had a small difference of opinion last night, and then she went up to her room. This morning when we got up, she was gone, so we assumed she went to school. But she hasn't come home. Didn't she come home with you?"_

_I shook my head. "No. She wasn't at school."_

_"__Well is there any chance that she camped out somewhere on your property?" Mrs. Tyler questioned._

_I took a deep breath. "Maybe she came into my room after I left. I'll be right back."_

_She was either hiding in my room or she was in the woods, in our spot. There was no where else she would've gone._

_I entered my room, and at first glance, I noticed nothing out of place. And then I saw it, a note taped to the outside of my window. My breath catching in my throat, I ran over and slid the window open, snatching the note from the glass and pulling it into my room._

_My hands already trembling, I opened the note. It was Dani's careful handwriting that covered the page. I started to read._

**_Dear Santana,_**

**_I had to do it. I'm sorry, first off. I know you always thought that running away was an incredulous idea. You thought it was cowardly, but I had to. I know I talked about us running away together, but I realized that even if you had wanted to, I couldn't let you come with me. You have a life ahead of you. Fame, fortune… I know you'll be happy. I had nothing, besides you of course. My parents, though, would have stolen even you from me. So I had to leave. On one hand, I hope we meet again someday. On the other hand, though, I know you'll find a beautiful girl who deserves you and I don't ever want to butt into what you will have built for yourself. I hope you get everything and more out of life. I, meanwhile, will settle down somewhere small, or move around some. Who knows? But don't worry about me, babe, I'll be fine. I suppose that one day, if we meet again, it'll be some where only we know…. You and I both know where that is._**

**_I love you Santana, and that is why I had to leave you behind._**

**_Love,_**

**_Dani_**

_She had drawn a small heart next to her name, and my heart clenched as I finished the letter. Hot tears were already streaming down my cheeks from my eyes. No, she couldn't have done something like this. She wouldn't have…_

_I wiped my tears away the best I could, and clenched the note in my hand. A surge of anger flowed through me. Not anger at Dani so much as anger toward her parents. What different of opinion had they had the previous night?_

_I was determined to find out, unsurprisingly. I stormed back downstairs. "Did you find anything?" Mrs. Tyler asked me instantly._

_"__What was your _difference of opinion_ with Dani last night?" I demanded, my teeth clenched._

_Mr. Tyler cleared his throat. "Dani told us that she thought she may be a lesbian."_

_"__She did what?" I asked, my question almost dissolving into the air as my voice weakened. Why would she do that? She knew how her parents would react._

_"__The conversation came up during a friendly discussion about the issue of gay rights in our country," Mr. Tyler told me, as if he could tell that I wanted to know more about this friendly discussion._

_"__Friendly?" I demanded. "Think back, Mr. Tyler, how friendly could this discussion have been to get Dani to tell you something like that?"_

_"__You mean, to make up something like that," Mrs. Tyler tried to correct me._

_"__No! She didn't make up anything! Dani is a lesbian, and so am I! And guess what, you've really done it, because she's run away!" I exclaimed, shoving the note I their direction and trying not to start crying in front of Dani's parents._

_"__I… I don't understand. You and our daughter…?" Mr. Tyler asked, looking at me with evil eyes. "You perverted our daughter!"_

_"__Oh my god," I groaned, snatching my note back from him. I didn't want him to have it. It was mine. From Dani. The last thing I'd received from my girlfriend. And now she was gone._

_"__You perverted my daughter you sick little creep!" Mr. Tyler exclaimed. "And now you've made her run away from us! You turned her against us!"_

_"__Hey now you asshole!" my Mami exclaimed, stepping up in front of me and between me and Mr. Tyler. "Do not speak to my daughter that way! She did no such thing to your daughter! Can't you understand that being gay is not a choice? If Dani loved my daughter, that's because she knew how to look past your ignorance!"_

_"__My daughter was perfectly normal until your daughter messed her up!" Mr. Tyler exclaimed._

_"__Out! Out of my house! For Dani's sake, I hope she never comes back!" Mami snapped at Dani's parents, before slamming the door in their face. My tears were free flowing by now, and they turned into sobs as my mom wrapped me in one of her soft hugs._

_"__Mama," I mumbled through my sobs._

_"__Shh, mija," she objected, guiding me to our sofa. "It'll be okay. I promise."_

_"__She's gone, Mami. She left me," I whispered out, sniffling as we sat down._

_"__She's going through a personal journey, Santana. She'll come back to you when she's ready," my mom tried to insist._

_"__I don't think so, Mami. Why would she ever come back here?" I asked. "And even if she did, I'll be gone after this year. She won't know where I will have gone."_

_"__If it's meant to be, my dear, you will find her again. I promise."_

I woke with tears streaming down my cheeks. These emotions, thought to be lost, were back. I'd experienced this feeling before, almost eleven years ago when my girlfriend ran away from home. Ran away from me. She disconnected her own phone, deleted all of her online accounts. She told no one where she was going.

And still to this day, I hadn't met her again. And I likely never would.

I took a deep breath as the image of the brunette smiling at me appeared in front of my eyes. Pushing her soft hair from her face as her brown eyes glistened. Smiling that sweet smile at me. I took a deep breath. How was I supposed to find her again?

I took out my laptop, skipping my normal thing of having coffee before doing anything else in the morning. I opened Facebook and went to the search bar. Hastily, I typed her name in the search bar.

**Dani Tyler**

There were a few results, but none of them were my Dani. I huffed, and tried the next thought that came to my mind.

**Danielle Tyler**

When Dani and I were little, she used to tell people that her name was Danielle, because she said she liked the way it sounded. Her name was never actually Danielle, though. Why she would want to lengthen her name was always unknown to me.

None of them were my Dani either. Did she just still not have a Facebook? I tried Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Kik, everything. Nothing worked. My Dani Tyler was no where.

I wasn't going to be able to find her. That much was clear to me.

And then tears rushed back into my eyes and I fell back onto my pillow. Surely I didn't still love this girl?

_Don't kid yourself, Santana._

I sighed. How was I going to find her?

* * *

**Dunno, how are you going to find her, Santana?**

**Sorry it was kind of short! Hopefully this cleared some things up for you guys :P**

**Please let me know your thoughts in a quick review or PM! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Twee me that you read this and I'll follow you back! Also you can follow me there to see about when I'm updating and things like that. :D**

**So I have made an oath to myself to always say something funny or random in my A/Ns now, because I used to without thinking and now my bottom A/Ns are always so boring D: Hmm so what to say right noww...**

**Ah well, I'll start with the fact that I likely won't update anything tomorrow. For us Amuricans, it's Independence Day! Yay! Fireworks! Yeah, so I'll be out for pizza and then out watching fireworks all night :) So to any fellow Americans, Happy 4th of July! *STARTS SINGING THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER BC I CAN* Actually I really can- at least the first verse. I mean I don't sound like Whitney Houston or anything, but I don't sound half bad haha. Anyway what. Yeah. Happy fourth :)**

**Also, omg all that stuff that happened on Twitter today. Chris got hacked and the hacker nearly gave everyone heart attacks. Then Wilmer got hacked, hacker posted Demi nudes (which I heard are actually fake) and said a bunch of shit, and then he deactivated. I was bracing myself every time I saw a celebrity tweet for the rest of the day. Geez. :/ It's been an emotional day anyway. I watched a billion episode of Glee and listened to old Glee music and stuff.**

**Yeah so, enough talking now I guess :D**

**Goodnight lovelies! Please review c:**


	4. A Fight

**A/N: Hello! :D Sorry it's a little late, but you go! :D**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Glee!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

Instead of annoying knocking and calling to wake me up, this morning I instead got to sleep through four annoying phone calls until I finally picked up, already too awake to just lay there and ignore it. It was Davis, of course. I had expected no one else.

"What the hell, Davis? Don't you know I need my beauty sleep?" I snapped.

"Eight thirty," was all I got as a response.

"Eight thirty?" I questioned, confused now as my anger sizzled down. Of course Davis would have a good reason for waking me, but what was happening at eight thirty?

"Yep. That's when you need to tune in to LA KIIS on your radio," Davis explained, and I suddenly understood what he was talking about.

"No way," I said, unbelieving.

"Yes way! LA KIIS FM is airing your song at eight thirty tonight. Tomorrow morning, at around six in the morning pacific time, Z100 in New York is airing it in the East Coast! I told you we could count on this Neal guy!" Davis exclaimed, clearly proud of himself.

"This is amazing, Davis!" I exclaimed, whatever anger I'd had about him waking me up two days in a row completely gone. Today could be my day, the one I'd been waiting for ever since I'd lost everything almost eleven years ago.

"I know. Who's the best manager ever?" he asked cockily.

"You," I answered, rolling my eyes and letting out a light laugh. "Also the best friend ever!"

"Oh speaking of best friends," he said, his voice dropping a little in volume as he sounded more serious all of the sudden, "July 15th has passed, are you doing better?"

I let out a sigh. "I don't know, Davis. I guess. I mean, talking about it yesterday made it just that much harder to bare."

Davis suddenly gasped quietly. "Dani, if you're going to be famous soon, do you think your high school lover will be able to find you? Do you think she'll want to find you?"

The idea hadn't even crossed my mind, at all. What if Santana heard her voice on the radio? It was already a freak of nature that Dani hadn't heard Santana's voice on the radio since she last saw her, but what would Santana think if she heard Dani's voice on the radio?

And what would she think when she looked up her former lover and found nothing?

"If she just hears my name, it's fine," Dani stated, sighing. "If she just hears the song, it's fine. If she hears both…"

"Wait, what do you mean?" Davis demanded.

Dani sighed. She had a few more surprises for her best friend of five years. "My name isn't Danielle Taylor."

"What?" Davis asked, confusion lacing over his voice.

"I changed my last name as soon as I had the money to after I ran away. As far as my first name, it's never been Danielle. My parents named me Dani. Dani Tyler. Danielle Taylor, although similar, shouldn't trigger anything with her. But if she hears that _and_ the song… then she'll know its me. And if she just hears the song, and she looks up Dani Tyler, she won't find anything, so it won't matter."

"But if she hears both…" Davis repeated, seeming to understand now. "Ah, I get it."

"I hadn't even thought of it though," I admitted, huffing.

"Well, you said you didn't want to butt into her life. If she hears your song and comes to find you, that's hardly _you_ doing anything," Davis assured her. "Now, can I get any hints about this girl? What did she look like? Tall? Short?"

I couldn't help at chuckle at Davis's eagerness to know more about Santana. "She's about the same height as me. Dark hair. She's Latina."

"Ooh la la!" Davis joked, and I could practically see him winking at me. "If you saw this girl again, do you think you'd still be in love with her?"

"I don't know, Davis. Is that even possible?" I asked him, having been wondering that for years now.

"Anything is possible with love, Dani, you should know that," Davis chastised her. "I've got to go. Got to tell the posse about your song airing tonight. Call you later!"

"Sure," I answered, and then he hung up. Laying back against my pillow, I let out a deep sigh. Had Santana been thinking about me as much as I'd been thinking about her? Over the years? Now? Had she completely forgotten me? I wouldn't ever know.

My eyes shifted over to my phone, sitting still on my side table. If I looked Santana up on the internet, what would I find? I was almost tempted to do it, but I shook my head and let it drop against my pillow completely. Sleep. I needed more sleep. Especially since Davis was sure to have me up until the wee hours of the morning partying and celebrating with our friends.

_"__Dani?" I heard Santana call from the other end of our spot. From this end, I didn't have a clear view of her and she didn't have one of me. She would find me though; after all, I had promised that I'd be here. And what kind of best friend would I be if I didn't show up?_

_Best friend. The two words echoed in my head as I thought them. I didn't want to be Santana's best friend anymore. I was fifteen, and even though she was still fourteen for another month, I felt that we were both old enough to approach our feelings for each other. I knew that I had them toward her, and I was almost positive that she had them toward me._

_That was the topic that had led me to insist that Santana sneak away from whatever it is she'd been doing with her family to come see me. I was done trying to hide my feelings. I just wanted to admit them, have her admit her own feelings, and then kiss her until my lips were swollen._

_Naturally, though, I wasn't just going to lead with that. Actually, I was hanging upside down from a thick branch on one of the trees while I waited for Santana to round the trees in the middle of the clearing, where she would be able to see me._

_"__Dani?" she called again, closer this time, and then I saw her come around the trees. She raised one eyebrow up as soon as she saw me, and it looked just as hot as normal from upside down. "What are you doing?"_

_"__Waiting for you," I answered as though it were obvious. "Though, now that I think about it, I'm not sure that I can get down from this position without hurting myself."_

_"__Wow, some professional you are," Santana joked, before coming up to me and helping me down. Realistically, I could've gotten myself down, and Santana probably knew that. "So, what was so important that you had to call me away from my quinceanera planning?"_

_So that's what she'd been doing. I had almost forgotten about the quinceanera that Santana and her parents had been planning practically since Santana turned fourteen. "I need to talk to you."_

_"__What about?'_

_I took a deep breath. This was going to be harder than I thought it would be. "I need to tell you that ever since I realized that I was a lesbian I've started to realize that I really like someone and that someone also happens to kind of be like my best friend and I'm not really sure what to do."_

_Santana smirked at me and tilted her head a bit to the right. I rolled my eyes at her; she'd known very well that I had had feelings for her all this time. I could tell from her expression. I cocked my head a little to the side as well, and for a few moments, our eyes stared between each other. As if both of us were contemplating something serious involving the other. Which, really, we were._

_I broke first. "Ugh, will you please just say something?" I crossed my arms nervously over my chest._

_Santana straightened her head out and the challenging smirk was gone from her face. "What do you think you should do?" Santana asked me._

_I hated it when people did things like that, and she knew it too. I let out a groan of frustration. "Santana, will you please just like… _say_ something?"_

_"__I just did," Santana told me._

_I flashed her a quick scowl, but it disappeared as fast as it came. I wasn't even good at scowling at people I hated, let alone Santana. I took a deep breath. "Well, I don't know what I _should_ do, but I'm sure that what I want to do isn't that."_

_"__What do you want to do?" Santana asked, and I didn't miss her gently bite her lower lip after she asked the question._

_"__I'd really like to kiss you," I stated flat out, not bothering with the game-like conversation we'd been having._

_"__So? What are you waiting for?" Santana demanded, but before she could barely finish the last word, I wasn't waiting anymore. Our lips were joined in a kiss. It was my first kiss. I wasn't positive about whether or not it was Santana's first kiss. Before she came out to me, she'd gone on a "date" with a boy, and had never told me what about it made her come home completely disgusted._

_Santana moved her lips against mine slowly, and I couldn't help it when my tongue slipped out through my lips and touched gently on hers. After just a few seconds, Santana's lips moved apart from one another, and my tongue slid into her mouth experimentally._

_It was an amazing sensation, kissing Santana. Something that I would never have been able to imagine, at least not to the quality of the real thing. It got even better when Santana slid her arms around my waist and pulled me against her. I wrapped my own arms around her neck._

_I pulled away first, not very far though, and opened my eyes to watch Santana's eyes. Our eyes searched each other for a few moments, and then Santana surprised me by pulling me in for a hug. We both relaxed completely against each other. This was right. This was how we were supposed to be. I just knew it._

I awoke an hour later, feeling much more refreshed than I had when Davis called me. The dream I'd had, or rather, the memory, may have had some calming affect on me while I slept, which explained why I felt so calm and happy now. It was a good memory. A time when sneaking away to be together wasn't horrible. A time when I hadn't wanted to run away.

It wasn't like I'd had much of a choice in that matter though. It was leave or be forced to leave. Even if my dad hadn't wanted to kick me out, though, the anger from him and my mother would have been so thick that I wouldn't have been able to stay there. I'd known that, even when I so stupidly blurted out the one thing I needed them to not know.

And just like that, the bad memory absorbed my mind.

_"__I can't even believe that some states are legalizing it," my dad commented angrily in their discussion. I hadn't said much since it started, because I knew arguing with my parents would be stupid and fruitless._

_"__I can't believe how many people support them," my mom said, shaking her head with disbelief as she took another bite of the casserole that she'd made the three of us for dinner. I took a deep breath and then another bite as well to keep myself from arguing with them._

_"__It's a whole lot of stupid shit," my dad decided. "At least we know that gay marriage won't be legalized here."_

_I couldn't bite back the first comment that came to mind, and I accidentally let it slip, "Yeah, because there are too many closed-minded assholes here."_

_"__Excuse me, young lady?" my dad demanded._

_"__Sorry," I muttered, as if it would help me any, and took another bite of casserole, which was starting to not taste very good to me._

_"__Would you like to state your opinion, Dani?" my mom asked, in a tight, bitter sort of way._

_Now, I really couldn't hold anything back. "Yes I would. I think gay marriage should be legalized everywhere. Being gay isn't a choice, but being hateful to people for being gay is one, and it makes you a closed-minded asshole." She flashed her parents a thin, angry smile, and then took another bite of her now tasteless casserole._

_"__What do you mean it isn't a choice? Of course it's a choice! Everything is a choice!" my dad exclaimed._

_"__Is it your choice to be a man? Is it mom's join to be a woman? No, you were born that way!" I exclaimed._

_"__No one is born gay," my dad insisted, pointing a finger at me as if it was supposed to scare me._

_"__How do you know?" I growled._

_"__Because its unnatural," my mom answered for him._

_"__Alright, so why do you think that people are _choosing_ to be that way? Considering the amount of hate they receive from people like you? And, if they're born liking the opposite sex, then why do they want to force themselves to be with the same sex?' I demanded to know. How someone could believe the way my parents did blew me away._

_"__That's what makes it unnatural!" my dad exclaimed as if it were obvious. "I don't know why they do it!"_

_And then, the wrong thing came out. "What if I were gay, huh? What would you do?"_

_"__That would never happen, Dani. We raised you right," my mother insisted, her voice calm. I told myself over and over to leave it at that. To let my parents be the closed-minded assholes that they were. To let them fit in with so many other conservative people against gay rights. To let them hate who she was while they didn't even know she was that._

_But now she was angry, and the next words that fell from her lips were out of her control. "But I _am_ gay."_

_"__Dani, do not make serious things like that up," my father growled, taking an angry bite of his dinner. He probably wasn't tasting much of it anymore either._

_"__I'm not making anything up! I'm a lesbian! Alright? I've known since I was thirteen! I've never liked boys! I didn't force myself to like girls so that you could hate me! It's not a choice!" I exclaimed._

_"__You have no idea what you're talking about, Dani. You like boys," my mom assured me._

_"__No, I don't! I've kissed girls before, mom! Actually, you probably wouldn't want to know the details of what I've done with girls," I snapped at them, almost just because I knew that would rile them up. I avoided using Santana's name, though. She didn't need to get in any trouble because of me._

_"__Excuse me?" my father demanded, setting down his fork angrily on his plate. "You've done what?"_

_I glared at him. "I'm gay, and you can't change that, dad. I imagine the feeling is a lot like what I deal with having closed-minded assholes as parents."_

_"__No! I will not allow you to be gay, young lady! We'll send you to one of those correction facilities!" my dad yelled, almost as a threat. Like I should withdraw what I said to avoid trying to be converted into a straight person by some religious guy who thought he had the authority to do so._

_"__Oh yeah, because that will help," I snapped._

_"__Who did this to you?" my mom demanded. "Who turned you into this person?"_

_"__I did!" I answered. "I was born this way, mom!"_

_"__No! You weren't!" my father yelled, standing up now. "Someone messed with your mind and turned you into this person. I will not have someone like you as my daughter!"_

_"__Fine! I never wanted someone like you as my father anyway!" I yelled standing and storming off toward my room._

_"__You get back here, young lady!" my mother called, coming after me. But I was in my room with the door locked before she reached me._

_"__Leave her," my father said. "Maybe this will all blow over by morning."_

_Maybe it would._

_Or maybe I'd be gone by then._

_I slept until four in the morning, and then I packed everything I would need on my trip. Clothes, hygiene necessities, my phone and my phone charge. My laptop, a couple of photos. I also went downstairs and raided the pantry for food. Granola bars, cans of food. I had no idea how long I would have to live off stuff like that, so I took a good amount of stuff._

_Then I gathered up all of my cash, actually grateful that my parents hadn't given me a credit or debit card yet, one that they could shut down or track in order to find me. I only had about two hundred dollars saved up, but it's what I'd been saving in case this happened._

_At six in the morning, when Santana would be just about leaving her house. I scribbled out a note to her explaining myself. Then I folded it and grabbed a small piece of tape. As soon as I left this on her window, I could go._

_So I hung my purse over my shoulder, fit my guitar strap over me securely, and grabbed my duffle bag of stuff. The note still clenched in my hand, I left my house and started to Santana's._

_When I got there, I saw that she had already left. Probably wondering where I was, actually, since we usually walked to school together. I went around to the side of the house and dropped my duffle bag there. Then I climbed up to her window and carefully taped the folded note there. She would see it, that much I was sure._

_I dropped back down onto the ground and grabbed my duffle bag. I walked back to my house and found my mom's car keys. This was probably on some level of stealing, but I didn't have a car or a way to get out of this tiny town. I would drive to Austin, probably, and try to find a job there until I could pay for a bus ticket out of Texas. I didn't care where I went, but I wanted out of here._

_I would leave the car somewhere obvious when I left it, with the keys inside. That way they would find it. Probably on the outskirts of the city, and maybe grab a taxi to the inner part of the city._

_I would have to figure it all out on the drive. Because it was just me now. No one else. Just me. I had to start thinking like that._

* * *

**Dani :(**

**Please let me know your thoughts in a quick review! Or, if that's not your thing, feel free to send me a PM! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back!**

**I would just like to say that if any of you have parents that won't accept who you are... stay strong *heart* I'm lucky enough to have two parents who are liberal and who accept and support me for who I am. Not everyone can be so lucky :( Anyway, I love you all, so :)**

**Tonight I'm going to see Dawn of the Planet of the Apes! Anyone seen it yet? It's supposed to be amazing, so I'm excited! :D Ah I'm gonna be super busy this weekend, so I can't promise any updates... Also, I might be able to get a California Dream update up tonight, but I don't think I will, so you might not get one until Monday :( Sorry loves :(**

**Have a great day loves! Please review :)**


	5. A Toast

**A/N: Update time! My sister has been bugging me to update this haha...**

**Read the bottom A/N!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Glee!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

That night, at ten, I decided that I was going to go for a drink at a bar. I felt so lost in life, now that I'd lost Brittany, and it was still driving me insane that I couldn't find Dani anywhere on the Internet. I kept asking myself if something may have happened to her, but I kept pushing that thought away. Dani knew how to take care of herself. She was probably completely fine.

While I drove, I flipped through my XM radio stations. I stopped briefly on KIIS from LA, but they were just talking about some new song they were about to release. I considered staying tuned to listen, but I would probably be out of the car by then anyway. I didn't even listen long enough to hear the artist's name before I flipped to KIIS from NY. They were talking too, about different stuff, so I flipped the station to Z100 in NY. Z100 was usually the station I ended up listening to anyway.

When I got to the bar, I ordered just a beer. I didn't want anything too hard. I never really liked hard liquor if I was being honest. Sure I'd drank it a few times, but ever since I first tried it, I never really cared for it. I remembered the first time I tried vodka. I was fifteen…

_"__It's the middle of the night, Santana, what are we doing?" Dani demanded as we met in our spot in the woods. It was actually kind of cold that night, so I led her inside our hut. She immediately pulled a blanket over herself._

_I revealed the bottle to her._

_"__What's that?" she demanded._

_"__Vodka," I answered. Dani raised an eyebrow._

_"__Where'd you get it?"_

_I shrugged. "My dad left it out before he went to bed. I figured that now is as good a time as ever to try it."_

_Dani watched me closely as I procured two glasses from the bag I'd brought and poured a bit of vodka in both of them. I looked up to see her critical eyes on me. "What?" I asked._

_"__I don't know if I want any," she admitted._

_"__Oh come on, you've drank before," I reminded her._

_"__Not very much, and it was just beer," she reminded me. I shrugged and passed her a cup._

_"__Well this is not very much, and it's not like I'm asking you to get drunk," I said. Finally, I admitted, "I just didn't want to try it without you, alright?"_

_Dani smirked for only a second, and then it turned into a smile. "Fine. Bottoms up." We both took a drink of the hard alcohol and cringed. Neither of us seemed like it. "Ew."_

_"__How to people drink this stuff?" I demanded._

_"__Don't they usually mix it with other stuff?" Dani asked, shrugging and setting her glass on the floor._

_I shrugged, and went to pour me some more._

_"__What are you doing? I thought you didn't like it," she said, sounding a little alarmed._

_"__Just going to try again one time," I decided, before taking back the drink. Dani watched me critically. I shook my head as I swallowed the gross liquid._

_"__Next time you're going to drag me out here in the middle of the night, maybe it can be for tequila and lime and salt," Dani joked. I raised an eyebrow at her._

_"__Why?"_

_"__Because then we can at least do body shots," she told me, grinning._

"Santana? Santana Lopez is that you?" a voice asked, and I turned around to see Quinn Fabray looking at me. She smiled when she saw that it was me, and then she sat down next to me at the bar. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, it has," I agreed, taking a drink of my beer. I met Quinn while I was desperately trying to get a recording contract about six years ago. She was going after the same one. Needless to say, she got the contract.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked. "Your expression tells me that you're drowning your sorrows."

"Something like that," I agreed.

"So? What happened?" she demanded to know.

"You know. Girlfriend left me, dunno where she is," I answered casually. It took me only a second to realize that I didn't even know if I was talking about Brittany or Dani.

"Ooh, tough, I'm sorry," Quinn apologized, as if it would help me any. I looked over at her, and I remembered six years ago, when she and I had a one time thing. I almost considered having another one time thing tonight, but I decided not to.

"Yeah. Really, I should probably go," I muttered, standing up and walking out of the bar before Quinn could say anything else. And then I was gone.

**_DANI_**

I was clutching Davis's hand as we listened to the radio, our champagne all ready to be opened. Davis had hosted this little party, and all of our friends were there to listen to the song air on KIIS FM.

"And here's the new song by Danielle Taylor that you've all been waiting for!" The music started playing and I squealed loudly.

"I can't believe this is happening!" I exclaimed, and Davis grabbed the champagne. He stood back away from me to pop open the bottle. Everyone cheered and he poured glasses all around.

"Care to give a toast, Madam Taylor?" Davis asked. I laughed at the name and shrugged.

"Sure," I agreed. I looked around at all of my friends. Most of them were really more Davis's friends, but I'd hung out with all of them at some time or another. They definitely had been very supportive and some of them had even offered up ideas toward my song. "You all have been so supportive and amazing and I definitely wouldn't be here without you all."

"To Dani!" Davis exclaimed, and everyone repeated him, before taking drinks of their celebratory champagne. "You better watch out, Dani. You're going to have paparazzi all over you."

I laughed, shaking my head. "I don't think that it'll happen that fast."

"Ah, just drink," Davis commanded, and I shook my head again, laughing, and took another sip of my champagne.

A couple of hours into our party, someone broke out the hard alcohol. Davis's friend Nick offered me some, but I kindly refused. I'd never liked the stuff much. Although, as soon as everyone started taking back tequila shots, I couldn't help but joined. Even if the taste wasn't great, the feeling was pretty awesome.

And that's how I found myself waking up on Davis's bed early the next morning, my head pounding. I sat up with a groan, and spotted Davis passed out on the floor. Why he ended up there, I didn't know, and how I ended up here, I didn't know either. I grabbed my phone. It was six in the morning. How the hell had I woken up this early if I'd gone to bed so late?

Not questioning it, I dug around Davis's side table drawer until I found some painkillers. I took them without water, and then forced myself up and into the kitchen to get some water. My headache started to clear, and by the time I finished the glass of water, I was feeling much better.

It was really early, so I decided to lay back down in Davis's bed and get some more sleep. Now that I wasn't drunk, however, dreams swirled into my mind as I fell asleep. And like every July, they were about me and Santana. Another flashback, I realized as I finally drifted into sleep.

_Three months after Santana's quinceanera—four months after she and I got together—we decided to have a full-out campout at our spot in the woods for a day and a night. To accomplish this, we had to lie to our parents, saying that we were both going to stay the night with a different friend._

_Santana and I had plenty of sleepovers at each other's houses over the years, but there was always someone else just downstairs. I, for one, really wanted a night away from anyone else, with only Santana._

_It was a Saturday morning, and I spent it gathering up everything I needed. Of course we already had blankets and pillows in our hut, but I grabbed some extra anyway. Then I made sure that I had food, enough for both me and my girlfriend, in case she forgot. I made sure that I had my phone as well, and my portable phone charger._

_Once I was all set, I headed to the woods. Walking to our spot was a little bit of a challenge honestly, which was probably why no one else had ever found it. Now that I was carrying a lot of stuff, it became even more difficult to duck under branches and step over roots._

_I knew the path in my sleep, though, and it only took me a few extra minutes to get to the clearing. I spotted our hut, built between the two biggest trees in the clearing. Smiling to myself, I made my way over to and into the hut. I spread out the extra pillows and blankets, and then set the bag of food against one wall._

_It was hot, though, as it was during eleven months of the year here, so I left the hot hut and sat in front of it, leaning against its outer wall, and waited for Santana. It was only a few minutes before I spotted the Latina coming from the other side of the clearing, traveling much lighter than I had._

_"__Hey, babe," she called as she approached me, and I smiled, standing up. Before she could even stop walking, I intercepted her with a kiss to her lips. I planned on stealing a lot of those while we had over twenty-four hours completely alone._

_"__Hey," I returned, once I'd pulled my lips away from hers._

_We didn't do much all day, honestly. We stayed outside, where it was slightly cooler than it was in our hut. We walked around the clearing and talked. We stole kisses from each other periodically throughout the day. Basically, we just enjoyed each other's company._

_When it started to get cooler, we ducked into our hut and sat out on the blankets._

_And I looked around the space, an idea coming to my mind. Santana and I had been dating for four months, and this was probably the only overnight alone time that we would have probably for a little while. I looked over my girlfriend. She wearing just a tank top and shorts, like me. You could expect nothing more or less in the Texas heat._

_And Santana looked really hot._

_Both Santana and I were virgins, and even though I was just fifteen, I knew that I wanted to lose my virginity to Santana. And even though neither of us had had sex yet, we knew how it worked._

_So I promptly decided that as long as Santana felt ready for it, we were both going to lose their virginity tonight._

_So when it started to get darker, I scooted over to my girlfriend. "Are you tired?" she asked me._

_"__Nope," I answered, and then I flipped over so that I was sitting across her lap. Our eyes locked for only a moment, and then I pressed my lips against hers gently. Then a little more forcefully. Her hands fell on my waist and pulled me even more so on top of her. By now, our kiss was tongue and teeth and everything._

_Her hands on my waist gripped the bottom of my tank and pulled it up as far she could before we had to separate. I tore off my shirt, and then I grabbed the bottom of Santana's and pulled it up and over her head as well. Then our lips crashed together again. Santana pulled me even closer to her so that our fronts were completely pressed together, and I was basically sitting on her center._

_Her gentle fingers unsnapped my strapless bra, and the article of clothing fell uselessly away from me. I did the same to her bra, and it fell away as well. Despite the temperature cooling slightly from the nighttime air, my skin was hotter than ever, pressed against Santana's equally hot skin._

_Her hands dragged down my torso, her nails slightly scratching my skin, and then I felt her thumbs hook in the tops of my shorts. I pulled away from her slightly; we both had to be ready for this. It was a big step. I didn't have to ask Santana the question though, and she didn't have to ask me. We were both ready._

_Santana pulled my shorts down, followed by my underwear. Then, despite her lack of experience, she touched me. It was an experience like none other. It was the closest I'd ever felt to her, and really, the closest I'd ever been to her._

_The next half hour was spent with us figuring out what we were capable of and what things our bodies could do. My conservative parents hadn't ever really talked to me about sex, and definitely not lesbian sex. Santana had probably received more of a lesson than I had on it, but still not on the lesbian aspect of it. However, we both seemed to be able to figure it out pretty well._

_When we were done, we laid pressed against one another, our skin sweaty and hot, our breathing heavy. "Whoa," I muttered, finding Santana's hand with my own and grasping it. "That was incredible."_

_"__I love you, Dani," Santana mumbled, sounding as though she were drifting asleep._

_"__I love you too, Santana."_

* * *

**Lalalala c: You guys are gonna like the next couple of chapters... **

**Likee? Let me know in a quick review, or a nice lil PM! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana! Tweet me that you read this story and I will follow you back :DD**

**I reached 60k tweets today... that's a LOT lol... Twitter is awesome, if you don't have it, get it.**

**Moving on, this is IMPORTANT! READ THIS!**

**A lot of the flashbacks I'm writing are just things I want to write about, so if you have any particular moment you'd like to see between Dantana in a flashback, let me know and I'll see about writing it! :) :D **

**Sooo something random for today hmm... well actually no, I didn't do one on CD either. Instead, I'd like to take a quick moment of silence for Cory :( As you all probably know, he passed away a year ago :( We miss you, Cory *hearts***

**Goodnight lovelies. Please review :)**


	6. A Discovery

**A/N: I just wrote Chapter 8 for you guys! It's extra long and it's extra good ;) But for now, here is number six :)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Glee!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

It was morning, and I was heading to work at the diner. It wasn't like I had much else to do, anyway. All I seemed to have in my life at the moment was work. I couldn't help but wonder if this was what a midlife crisis was, and whether or not it was happening much too early. It sure didn't feel like the middle of my life.

I hit the radio on and flipped to Z100 in NY. Just in time to hear a voice talking about a new song that was coming on. I rolled my eyes, just wanting to hear music for once, and started to go to another station.

"Yes, we are all excited to hear this mysterious Danielle Taylor's new song!"

My heart froze inside my chest, but I quickly swallowed and shook my head. Dani's last name was _Tyler_. And her name wasn't Danielle. If she ever were to come out with a song, she wouldn't have everyone thinking her name was Danielle.

Just as I was about to overcome my strange emotions and change the channel, the song came on. And I nearly threw on my breaks with surprise. Luckily, though, I didn't.

This was Dani's voice. There was hardly a doubt. I swallowed thickly as I listened to her singing this song, her song. Was this her first song? Was that why Santana had only just heard this girl's voice for the first time in eleven years?

The song ended just as fast as it started, and the radio commentator explained how the song would up on iTunes any day now.

When I got to work, I used my owner privileges to take a break before I'd even started working. I took out my smart phone and went on Facebook. Instead of searching for Dani Tyler, I searched for Dani Taylor. Nothing came up. I blinked, and then tried Danielle Taylor.

There she was. Her hair was blonde now, but there was no way I'd be able to forget her face. Some of the stuff on her page was public, like her beautiful profile picture and her cover photo. The cover photo's date was the previous day, so it must've been a recent picture. A picture of a large group of people, Dani at the center. They looked to all be drinking and laughing and smiling.

I sighed and scrolled down on her page. There were few things public from that point on. I saw some other pictures, like a selfie that Dani had taken with a guy. I almost got worried, until I did an analysis of this guy and came to the conclusion that he was as queer as a three dollar bill. I clicked on his name on Dani's page and found that some of this stuff was more public. His name was Davis, and his other pictures definitely confirmed that he was gay.

Some of his posts had Dani tagged in them, and I had a sneaking suspicious that he was Dani's best friend. I bit my lip. That could've been me. I could still be Dani's best friend. No, I could still be her girlfriend. Maybe if I'd told Dani that I would've run away with her. Something like that. Or maybe, I could've stopped her from running away.

I wiped at my cheeks, even though I wasn't crying yet. I went back to Dani's page and saw that of the few public things she had up, she did have her location. Los Angeles. I wasn't surprised, although I did wonder how she'd gone from our small town in Texas to such a big glamorous city alone. I know that she stole her mom's car— no one had noticed until after we found out that she'd run away. But they found it abandoned in Austin, with the keys inside. She'd meant to leave it there. But how did she make it from Austin to LA with hardly any cash or any possessions?

The friend request button was mocking me, wondering if I had the guts to press it. I bit my lip so hard that I broke the skin as I stared at it. The taste of blood in my mouth broke me out of my staring match with the button, and I hit the back button out of my Facebook search for Dani. I wasn't going to click my way into Dani's life. Dani hadn't wanted to interrupt my life, and I didn't want to interrupt Dani's life, which was clearly much more put together than mine.

Still, I couldn't stop thinking of what could have been.

By the time work was over, I had decided something. I needed a change. A big one, and maybe a break as well. As I drove home, I grabbed my phone and called Rachel.

"Hey, Santana!" Rachel answered. "Kurt told me about the breakup. I'm _so_ sorry."

"Whatever," I muttered, shaking my head. "I'm over it. It wasn't meant to be."

"Alright," Rachel answered doubtfully. "What did you need?"

"I'm going to move. Into a new apartment. Maybe a smaller one," I decided.

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked, sounding baffled.

"Yes. And after I move into it, I'm going on a vacation."

"To where?" Rachel asked.

I took a deep breath as I debated the two different locations in my head. "Texas," I decided on the spot. "I need to go back… there. Just for maybe a week. See my family… just get a breather. Remind myself why I left and what I left to do. Rachel, I feel like I'm in an early midlife crisis. I just need some thinking time."

"Alright. Well, I know a real estate agent who actually just listed a small apartment in my building. Interested?" Rachel asked.

"Of course! Can you get me a showing of it?" I asked.

"Of course," Rachel answered, and I could hear the smile in her voice. I loved having her as my best friend, she really was a good person.

"Thanks, Rach. Call me about it later? I'm almost home, and I think I need some sleep," I told her.

"Did something happen today?"

I swallowed thickly. "No. Nothing. I'm just overtired. Talk to you later, Rachel."

"Yeah, bye."

I hung up and turned my radio on. Just my luck, too, that Dani's song was playing. How could I still miss her so much after eleven years? Or more importantly, how could I still be in love with her after eleven years?

**_DANI_**

It was a week after my song had come out, but I was still feeling utterly impressed by the fact that it was even possible that my music could go anywhere. Davis and I were hanging out that night, and I was on my way back to my place from a meeting with major producer Neal Webster.

When I got back to my place, Davis was already there, vigilantly scrolling through something on his phone.

"What are you looking so happy about?" I asked him, dropping my purse on the small dining table in my apartment before going over to the couch where my best friend was sitting.

"If I tell you, you're going to kill me," Davis admitted. I raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"Davis," I growled warningly.

"Alright, alright. So, I got here about an hour ago, and I thought that I'd clean up around here a little bit," Davis started. I didn't like where this was going. "So like I went into your closet and found a shoebox that I hadn't seen before. You know, I figured that you'd bought some killer heels you hadn't told me about, so I opened the thing."

I searched my mind for memories of this shoebox he was talking about. I couldn't really pinpoint what might be in it, but I guess I was about to find out.

"And well… there were some pictures in there. Pictures of you when you first came to LA, some before that. I was, you know, looking to see there were any of me in there, but then I found this really old looking picture. It was in the middle of like the woods or something, so I figured it had to be from Texas. And well… there was this gorgeous Latina in the picture," Davis explained.

"Davis!" I exclaimed. "I am going to kill you! What the hell did you do?"

"I took a picture of the picture on my phone and reverse image searched for it on Google. It came up with some other pictures, some old and some new. Also a name! Santana Lopez," Davis explained.

"Kill me now," I groaned. Then I sighed and sat down next to him. "What'd you find, asshole?"

"Well, I went to her Facebook. She doesn't have a whole lot public on there. It says she's in New York City. Also, all of her Timeline Events are public, and the last one that was posted on it was last week sometime. I guess she just ended a relationship with some girl named Brittany Pierce," Davis explained. "She's gorgeous, but besides her Facebook, there isn't much else out there about her."

I nodded, sighing slightly as he showed me her most recent picture. She did look older, but that wasn't surprisingly of course. It had been eleven years.

"Should I friend her?" Davis asked teasingly.

"You do that and I'll kill you," I threatened.

"Come on! She just broke up with her girlfriend!" Davis exclaimed.

"No, Davis. We are not contacting her, end of discussion," I snapped.

Davis huffed. "Fine. How'd your meeting with Neal go?"

"Fine," I answered. "He said he'd love to have me record some in a few weeks."

"That's great! I knew that guy was the right guy for you!" Davis said, the way he said it making me laugh and roll my eyes. "What are you going to do for the next few weeks then?"

I shrugged. "Enjoy my off time? Can I see that box you were looking through before?"

Davis nodded and went into my bedroom, before coming back out with an old shoebox in his hands. I opened it up and saw all of the printed pictures sitting there. Thinking about it now, I realized that I had wanted to put all of these up at one point, but hadn't found the time, or something like that. At the top of the pile was the last picture Davis looked at. The one of me and Santana. I sighed as I looked at the picture. It would've been the summer before I ran away. My hair was still brown back then. I wore a wide smile, and so did Santana, in the picture.

"You looked happy," Davis commented.

"I was," I agreed. "At least when we were away from everyone else."

I looked through some of the other pictures, and found a weird one of me and my parents. I looked about fifteen, so it might've been when we went on a weekend vacation for a weekend to the beach in Galveston. Santana hadn't been with us.

I sighed as I looked at the picture. "What's that?" Davis wondered.

"Me and my parents," I answered.

"Did you ever go back to see them after you…" Davis trailed off as he asked the question.

"No," I answered.

"Maybe you should. It's been eleven years. They're probably worried sick, even still."

I snorted. "Doubt it. If they saw my note to Santana, they were probably thanking god that I was gone."

"Dani, I don't know your parents, but people can change. Especially of something like that happened to them," Davis reasoned.

"I hope you're not trying to make me feel bad about running away," I muttered, half joking.

"I'm not, Dani. I just think that maybe they deserve to know what happened to you," Davis answered, shrugging.

I nodded slowly. "Maybe I can find them on Facebook," she joked. Davis gave her a pointed look.

"Come on, look. You have a few weeks off, right? Go back to Texas. I'll even come if you want me to," Davis insisted.

I held his stare for a few moments. He quirked an eyebrow up at me, something I was sure he got from me. "Fine. I'll go to Texas. You don't have to come, though. One gay visitor is probably all they can handle."

Davis chuckled lightly. "I'm proud of you, Dani."

"Can you do me a favor and check flights going out tomorrow?" I asked.

"You want to leave tomorrow?" Davis asked.

"I'm going to get this shit over with," I explained. "Please? Don't I pay your for that kind of stuff?"

Davis rolled his eyes at me. "Not enough," he joked, but I saw him click a few things on his phone, which told me that he was checking flights. I smiled and headed into my room to start packing. I wasn't going to procrastinate on this. I was going to get to Texas tomorrow, rent a car, drive all the way to my tiny little hometown, and stay in a tiny hotel for a night, two tops. Maybe I would drop by the Lopez family, too. Ask them how they were doing. It wasn't like Santana was going to be there, anyway. She always told me that once she got to New York, she would never look back.

I had made that promise to myself a lot, too. And here I was, about to break it.

"I can get you on a flight at noon. Good?" he called to me.

"Perfect! Thanks, Davis!"

"Don't mention it."

I thought of Texas and sighed. So long ago, it had been my home. And now it only held memories. Painful ones, happy ones, sad ones. Taking a shaky breath, I kept packing while Davis scheduled my flight for me.

I wasn't ready for this.

But I had to do it.

* * *

**Coincidence, or fate? ;P**

**Like it? Love it? Hate it? Let me know in a review! :D Or a PM, if reviewing isn't your thing! Also, follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana :D Tweet me that you read my story and I will follow you back c:**

**I posted a new Emison story last night (if you ship Emison from PLL, go check it out!) and for 4 hours after I did, I didn't get like any reviews or favs or follows and I was kinda bummed out. But then I went to bed and I woke up and I had about 60 emails from FF! Some of them were reviews/favs/follows for this story, but most of them were for my new story and I was like wowowowow sleep is a magical thing hahaha. Anyway, moving back to this story, thanks for all the support you all have been giving me :D I'm so glad you like this story! Also, thanks to the people giving me flashback ideas! Two of them have been written into Chapter 8, because they both fit perfectly with what I was writing. Both of you know who you are, and I will be giving you credit shoutouts whenever that chapter comes around :D **

**Keep telling me what flashbacks you guys want to see, though, because I plan on including them all the way up until the end of this story =D I really like them c:**

**Anyway, you may get another update for this story today, and possibly CD or IDDA as well. Probably not my new story, Read Into My Soul (RIMS), but possibly because ya know, PLL comes on tonight and that might give me some fresh inspiration haha. :P **

**Have a great day lovelies! :D Please review!**


	7. A Boom

**A/N: Here is Chapter 7 :D It's a little more flashback focused, because it's a bit of a filler chapter, but you get another update so quickly so be happy ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Glee!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

_"__Go and get Dani and her parents, mija, and we can head to the park," Mami told me. I nodded, smiling to myself as I left my house and walked unceremoniously across our lawns to Dani's house. I didn't even knock when I walked in, which kind of annoyed Dani's parents, but they were used to it after all of these years._

_"__Mr. and Mrs. Tyler?" I called into the house. "Dani?"_

_Dani came down the stares and flashed me a smile. "Hey, babe," she said quietly, coming up to me and stealing a kiss just before her parents came around the corner. Mr. Tyler was carrying a couple of foldable lawn chairs, and Mrs. Tyler had a big bag of stuff._

_"__Dani, are you ready to head to the park?" her dad asked, and she excused herself for just a minute to grab her bag upstairs._

_When she got back down, she confirmed that she was ready with a clear, "Yep!"_

_The four of us went first back over to the Lopez residence, where we met up with my parents. Both of them had similar things in hand as we left the house. The park where the Fourth of July fireworks were supposed to happen was just about a ten minute walk from our neighborhood. We did, after all, live in a tiny neighborhood._

_Dani and I were walking a good distance in front of our parents, so that we could talk without being overheard. "So, where are we going to sneak away to during the fireworks?"_

_I shrugged. "Where can we go? The whole park is going to be littered with prying eyes."_

_"__Yeah, but we don't have to stay there. We can tell them that we're going to the other end or something, they'll never know we left," Dani insisted, nudging me and giving me her puppy dog eyes. I laughed lightly and rolled my eyes at her._

_"__Tell me where you want to go, and we'll go," I gave in, the smile I had threatening to take over every inch of my face._

_"__Well," Dani started, "there's a convenient store across the street from the park. The kind with the flat roof."_

_I raised my eyebrow at my girlfriend, pretty sure that I knew what she was suggesting. "When's the last time you climbed up smooth concrete?" I teased._

_"__I climb up the side of your house all the time," Dani reminded me._

_"__Doesn't count. There is tons of shit back there to help you up," I reminded her._

_"__Yeah, and I'm sure there's a ton of shit behind the store that we can climb up. Come on, it'll be a great view, and no one else will be there," Dani pleaded, giving me her puppy dog eyes again._

_I huffed, even though I wasn't frustrated. "Sure."_

_Dani gave me her signature grin of excitement, the one that made her eyes open wider and her eyebrows move up a little bit. It was adorable, actually, and I could barely keep myself from kissing her._

_We spent the early part of the night with our parents, eating the barbeque that the people hosting the whole thing were giving out for a cheap price. When the fireworks were getting nearer, we both made up our quick excuse for our parents._

_"__Hey, we're going to go watch from the other side of the park," Dani said, looking at both of our parents._

_"__You don't want to stay over here with us?" my Mami asked us jokingly._

_"__We'll be back before y'all leave, okay?" I said, ignoring my mother._

_"__Sure," Mr. Tyler approved, giving us a nod. If Dani's dad approved something, you could bet that any of the rest of them would've. He was, after all, the biggest asshole of them all. Not that my parents were really assholes, though._

_"__Thanks, dad!" Dani exclaimed, and then she and I turned around and bolted off across the park._

_And then across the street to the still open convenient store. We made our way around to the back and found a perfectly sized, closed dumpster, which we only had to scoot around a little bit, to climb on top of and then pull ourselves up onto the roof._

_Dani went first, helping me up after her. The roof wasn't entirely large, of course, because the building wasn't incredibly big. It was cool, though, to be on top of it. We could see the whole park across the street._

_We ventured over to the front of the roof, and carefully sat down on the concrete. "They're starting!" Dani squealed with excitement, grabbing my hand. I smiled at the touch, and squeezed her hand in mine._

_The fireworks flew up very high, so we laid back on the roof to see them. I cuddled into my girlfriend, and we looked up into the now smoky sky at the exploding fireworks. I liked fireworks a lot, because they gave me a similar thrill to the one that I really only ever got when I was with Dani._

_When they started the grand finale of fireworks, which were the specifically red, white and blue ones, I turned a little into Dani and pressed our lips together._

_"__Mm," she mumbled against my lips as she pressed deeper into the kiss. Her hand was on my cheek in a second, and my tongue slipped into her mouth._

_When the last firework went off, the boom startled us and we broke apart, squealing. We broke out into a fit of laughter after that, and we could hear all of the people in the park applauding and cheering now that the fireworks were finished._

_"__Hey, is someone up there?" came a guy's voice from behind the store._

_"__He must've noticed our handiwork," I muttered after our laughing had been cut off. I was, of course, referring to us having moved the dumpster._

_"__Come on," Dani whispered, giggling as she grabbed my hand and pulled me up. We heard the guy trying to get on top of the dumpster, so we hurried to the side of the building and carefully dropped off of the roof and onto the ground._

_"__Hey!" we heard another guy yell, but we had already taken off at a full sprint back to the park, laughing uncontrollably._

_It was moments like these that I knew better than I knew myself that I loved Dani. She was my everything, and I would be nothing without her._

I groaned as I woke up in an uncomfortable position. A female voice was speaking loudly around me. "Thank you for flying with us today, we have reached Austin, Texas."

I groaned again, realizing that everyone was getting up and getting their bags. I must've slept through the whole flight, because the last thing I remembered was sitting down by the window.

I hastily grabbed my under the seat bag and then squeezed my way into the aisle. Sure, it wasn't the nicest thing to do, but I wasn't anxious to stay on this plane any longer than I had to.

Luckily, I was off and out of the airport in no less than ten minutes. I thought about trying to catch a bus or pay a taxi to bring me out to my old home, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to be stuck in that place without an immediate way to leave.

So I ended up having to rent a car from the airport's car rental place. I only took a break to pee before continuing my journey home. I didn't know why I had to go back, not really anyway. I just knew that I had to.

I spent a couple hours driving out to the small town that I once called home. When I got there, it was getting dark out, but I knew my way through the place like the back of my hand. I drove past the park that I'd dreamed about on the plane, along with the convenient store. I drove past a few other things, and then found myself in my old neighborhood.

I bit my tongue as I parked myself in front of my house, along the edge of the road. Since I left for college after high school, I hadn't come back here once. I had barely even spoken to my parents, honestly. I had never wanted to look back, not in any way, shape or form. And now I was back.

I avoided looking over at Dani's house, and approached my parent's front door. Taking a deep breath, I knocked lightly on the door.

A few seconds later, the door opened. My mom stood in front of me, her eyes wide. They filled up with tears, and then she wrapped her arms around me. "Mija! Why haven't you called in so long? What are you doing here?"

"I'm visiting," I answered, hugging her back tightly. "And I know I haven't called, I'm so sorry."

"Pablo! Get down here!" Mami yelled toward the upstairs as she pulled away from me. "Do you have a hotel, Santana?"

I shook my head. "I'll get a room later."

"You'll do no such thing," my Mami insisted. "You're staying here."

"I really don't think that's a good idea," I argued, because there was something about my room that I didn't want to be around right now, stuff I knew was probably still there after all of these years. Probably the things that reminded me of Dani. In my last year of high school, I had kept all of those things around. I had thought she would come back, at the time. When I graduated, I left all of those things. I had made it my mission to forget her.

I'd almost succeeded. "No, no. No daughter of mine will be sleeping in a hotel when we're right here. Your room is still there, too, so don't worry."

"Who's worrying?" I joked, biting my lip nervously.

I talked to my parents for a little while, telling them about how I felt like I was having general life problems and needed a break, and how I'd just moved before coming down here. After we talked, I went upstairs to my old room. I kept the lights off and just went straight to sleep. I would deal will all of the memories in the morning.

**_DANI_**

I got to Austin a little late in the day, and rented a car to drive all the way down to the place I'd run away from eleven years ago. I couldn't stop freaking out the entire time I drove. I kept telling myself that I should've made Davis come with me, but then I reminded myself why I hadn't in the first place.

After a long drive, which consisted of my almost losing my sanity more than a couple of times, I pulled into the parking lot of the small hotel in our town. It was old and rundown and totally not the place a soon to be celebrity would usually stay, but it was all that was here. And there was no way I would be staying at my own place.

It was a small town, so I wasn't surprised when I walked into the place and got an immediate reaction from the person at the desk of the hotel. "Dani Tyler?"

I gave the older woman a half smile. "I need a room please."

"Sure," she said, her eyes stuck on me weird. "Where you been all these years?" She had a thick Texan accent, something I'd nearly forgotten in California.

"Different places," I answered, shrugging.

She seemed to understand that I'd rather not be interrogated on my past at the moment, and gave me a room key, which I happily paid for. Then I went to one of the few rooms in the place, the one matched with my key, and went inside.

I dropped my stuff by the bed and then flopped onto it. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes without even taking off my makeup. I'd been driving all day, and I needed to sleep.

Tomorrow would be the day that I would see my parents again for the first time in eleven years. I would tell them all about what happened to me and why I left. I'd probably get lectured or yelled at, and the idea made me start to tear up.

_Don't cry, Dani. Not yet._

I'd probably tell them about my single, maybe about my new best friend. I had a feeling that things were going to be crazy tomorrow.

So I took a deep breath and cuddled into the cold blankets under me. I might as well get some rest while I was here.

* * *

**What do you think is going to happen? :D**

**I would really appreciate some reviews on this chapter. Since I posted two back to back, I'll probably not get as many, so I would appreciate if you would leave your comments at least on this one :) Or PM me of course :) Also, follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana and tweet me that you read this for a follow back :D**

**I'm super hungry and I haven't had lunch yet so I'm going to go do that :D Probably not another update of this story today, because I need to work on CD and IDDA first haha. :)**

**Have a great day my loves :) Please review :P**


	8. A Surprise

**A/N: Here's the chapter I've been teasing you all about! It's exactly 3,998 words haha so extra long, plus extra good ;) Remember, 50th reviewer gets a shoutout guys!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Glee!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

**I have to go so I don't have time to reread this right now and make edits, but I shall reread it as soon as I get the chance and if I find anything major I'll fix it haha :P**

**^Yep found a big problem. Forgot my shoutouts and left my reminders in the story lol. Well, shoutout to shananan5, who suggested the Abuela flashback, and shoutout to ChaserMoonstone who asked for a flashback in which Dantana was talking about forever. Sorry it wasn't as fluffy as you wanted :P**

**Also sorry for the mistake haha, I was rushing, but all fixed now ^.^**

* * *

I woke up bright and early, and with the realization that I really had no idea what I was doing here. I guess I was here to sort of reunite with my parents, but how did I expect this trip to help me move on in my life at all?

I got up and got dressed and ready for whatever I was going to do today. Then I went downstairs, where both of my parents were sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee. "Morning, mija," Papi greeted me.

"There's coffee in the pot if you'd like some," Mami told me with a smile.

"Gracias," I returned, smiling and going to pour myself some coffee.

My Papi cleared his throat. "So, Santana," he started, "what exactly are you going to do while you're in town? You mentioned how you felt like you needed a break from your normal life, but how do you think coming back here will give you that?"

I swallowed thickly and looked down at my coffee. What was something that I really needed to change or set right here, besides the fact that I hadn't seen Dani in eleven years. Not that that particular problem could be solved here, she was in LA after all.

Then something popped into my mind.

_A few weeks after Dani's mom's car was found on the outskirts of Austin, Texas found me finally deciding to openly come out to everyone outside of my parents. Now that I knew they accepted me, what did I really have to worry about?_

_I did wish that Dani was still here with me, though. It was always easier to do things like this with her._

_I was starting with my Abuela. The last thing I needed was for her to hear about it through the grapevine instead of directly from me. So one sunny day saw me borrowing my mom's car to drive to the other side of town, where my Abuela lived._

_I had called her to let her know that I was coming over, so she was expecting me when I got there. Of course, that meant there was food sitting out for me when I came in. My Abuela always insisted that I was far too skinny and needed more meat on my bones. She was one to talk, considering that she was all skin and bones._

_"__You like the salsa?" she asked me, after I had a few bites of what she'd made for me._

_"__Of course, Abuela," I answered, giving her a smile. I always loved her food. I swallowed thickly though, and she could probably tell that I was nervous about something._

_"__Santana, did you come here to tell me something?" she asked me pointedly. I took a shaky breath and nodded._

_"__Si," I answered, my voice less powerful than I would've preferred. "Abuela… over the years, I've become more and more comfortable with who I am and how I've grown."_

_She nodded slowly, as though trying to guess what it was that I was planning on telling her._

_"__You know, I learned to be so strong from you, Abuelita," I reminded her, before wetting my lips slightly with my tongue. "There's a part of me that I've been hiding for a long time, because I was afraid of what everyone would think of me. But I'm not afraid anymore, Abuela, and I want to share that part of me with you."_

_The older Latina gave me an expectant look, waiting for me to get to the point._

_"__Abuela, I love _girls, _the way I'm supposed to feel about boys," I admitted. "I guess I just kept it hidden because I was afraid that people would look at me differently…"_

_My Abuela took in a deep breath through her nose, something I knew that she did when she was thinking hard. "Santana, this is a sin."_

_I swallowed nervously and shook my head. "No, Abuela, it's not. It's how I was born…"_

_"__Fine, it's how you were born, but acting on it and speaking of it is the sin, Santana," she snapped at me._

_"__Are you trying to tell me that I should have not told anyone?" I asked, hurt lacing my voice. My grandmother looked at me with an uncomfortable look that I didn't really understand._

_"__I want you to leave, Santana, and I don't want you to come back," she said, effectively shattering my heart even more than it'd been shattered in the last few weeks. I'd lost my girlfriend, and now my Abuela. Who was next? What was next?_

_"__Abuelita, I am the same person I was before I told you," I pleaded. She just shook her head._

_"__Out, Santana."_

_I blinked, and a tear dropped from my right eye. I pursed my lips and nodded. "Right." I grabbed my purse, stood up from the table, and left. As I walked outside, my tears went into full hurricane mode. I was sobbing by the time I got into my mom's car. I sat behind the wheel, not able to control the sobs and tears coming out._

_I needed Dani. She was the only person who would make me feel better after all of that._

_And she wasn't here for me. She was supposed to always be here for me. Always. And now, she wouldn't ever be here for me. Never. She was gone._

_A new wave of sobs took over, and I sat there in front of my Abuela's house for nearly half an hour before I could finally see well enough through my tears to drive home safely._

_My life was officially and completely ruined._

"Santana?" my Mami said, shaking me out of my flashback. I realized that a tear had fallen from my eye, and I quickly wiped it away and took a sip of my coffee.

"I have to talk to Abuela," I told my parents. My parents exchanged concerned looks, and my expression hardened. "What are you not telling me?"

"Santana, your Abuela passed away a year ago," my Papi told me softly.

My mouth went completely dry. "What?"

"She got sick," my Mami explained.

"Why didn't anyone tell me? Why didn't I get to go to her funeral?" I demanded.

"She didn't want a big funeral," my Papi told me. "She didn't want her death to bring anyone more pain than it had to."

I was crying already. "S-so now I just never get to know if she would have ever accepted me."

"She left you a letter," my Mami told me. "I'll go get it."

She disappeared, and my Papi met my eyes. "Santana, this letter… she didn't want you to have it right away. She wanted to wait until you came back for us to give it to you. I'm not sure how she knew that you would come back, considering how you never wanted to come back when you left. That's why we never gave it to you until now. We were respecting your Abuelita's last wishes."

I nodded that I understood, even though I wasn't exactly positive that I did, and wiped some of my tears away. My Mami came back into the room with a white envelope. On the outside, in my grandmother's neat cursive, my name was written. I swallowed the choked up feeling I had.

"Are you going to read it, mija?" Mami questioned carefully.

"Yes. But not here. I'm going out to me and— um… just this place in the woods. I need to be alone I think. I'll uh… I'll be back later. Thank you, for this letter. And I understand that you were respecting Abuela's wishes, but I really wish you would've called me when she got sick," I told them, trying too keep any bitterness out of my voice.

They nodded, and I took a deep breath.

I left the house and started walking to me and Dani's spot. That was the only place that I was sure I could go to be alone. After Dani left, I went there a lot. To remember her, or just to feel like I was in a safe place, even when she wasn't there to make me feel safe.

My heart clenched painfully in my chest. I didn't have Dani anymore, and I didn't have my Abuela.

I got to the clearing before I knew it, and felt tears coming on again. The place was completely unchanged, even after eleven years. The trees were as green as always, as was the grass. Our hut cabin thing still stood. I carefully made my way over to it and glanced inside. The blankets and pillows were still in there, though some of them seemed to be a little torn up. Probably by a squirrel or a raccoon. I leaned against the outside of the hut and breathed in the fresh air around me, closing my eyes. I tried to remember the last time that Dani and I were here together.

_"Dani, how long do you think we'll be together?" I asked her. It was the day before the first day of school._

_Dani flashed me a sweet smile. "How long would you like for us to be together?"_

_I rolled my eyes playfully at her. She was probably the mushiest person in the world, always lovey dovey and giving me _those_ smiles. "I asked you first," I said, nudging her. She leaned her head against my shoulder as we sat with our back to the back of the hut, watching the sky together._

_"__Well, I don't ever want to leave you," Dani reasoned. "I love you too much."_

_"__I love you too much, too," I agreed, giggling a little bit. Dani was the only one that I ever really giggled with. It made sense, though, because she was also the only person I could be myself with._

_"__So, I guess that means that we're going to be together forever," Dani reasoned. She lifted her head a little bit and turned it so that our faces were facing each other. I gave her a smile and then kissed her lightly on her lips. She kissed me back, smiling into the kiss and then pulled away to lean her head back on my shoulder. "I love you, Santana."_

_"__I love you too, babe."_

I took in a shaky breath and opened the letter from my Abuela.

**_Dear my sweet Santana,_**

**_As I write this, I know that I am a coward. I have told your madre y padre not to call you and tell you about my approaching deathbed. If you come here, I will have to tell you all of my regrets, and I am too cowardly to do that. So I will write them down, and one day, you will see them._**

**_Ten years ago, I thought I did right by you when I disowned you. I thought that what you are was a sin and that if I couldn't fix it, I had to get rid of it. As I approach the end of my life, I am starting to realize that I wasted ten years of memories we could have been making. You were my only grandchild, and I ruined our relationship._**

**_I know that you will be hurt by your mother and father when you find out that they didn't tell you that I died, assuming that they carry out that wish of mine. Do not be angry with them, Santana._**

**_I want you to know, though, that before I died, I accepted you in my heart. I admitted to myself what I did wrong, and I need you to know that when I passed, I loved you with every ounce of my being. I will watch over you from wherever I go once I die, I promise._**

**_Love,_**

**_Abuelita_**

Tears were falling again, I did my best to keep them from falling on the letter. People liked to do this to me. They liked to leave without anything but a note as a goodbye. I folded the letter carefully back the way it was and slipped it into its envelope as I sobbed into the empty area.

**_DANI_**

I woke up in a state of panic. Today was the day that I would see my parents for the first time in eleven years. I got up off of the uncomfortable hotel bed and changed, redid my smeared makeup and fixed my blond hair. Once I was comfortable with my look, I took a deep breath. "You can do this Dani. You can do this."

So I left the hotel, deciding that I would probably be staying one more night and leaving my things in the room, aside from my purse. I ran my fingers through my hair as I started my rental car and started back to my old neighborhood. Intending not to draw too much attention to myself, I parked my car down the street from my parent's house, and the Lopez house.

I got out of the car over there, being sure to lock it up, and then started walking down the street. I got to my parents' house first, and slowly turned up onto the walkway to the door. Taking a deep breath, and I did my best to push away all of my fears.

Nevertheless, my hands were shaking uncontrollably as I lifted of them to knock on the door. I swallowed nervously and knocked on the door. Things were silent for a moment, and the I heard the hand turn on the other side of the wooden door. My heart clenched in my chest as my nerves brought on the feeling that I was about to get sick.

And then I saw my mother's face. First, it was casual, like she was expecting a mailman or something. Then fear, surprise, sadness, and finally something like joy took over her expression. "Dani," she whispered, her eyes tearing up. I swallowed away the sob I felt coming on and forced a smile.

"Hi, mom," I greeted.

"C-come in," she insisted, stepping backwards and giving me room to come in.

"Who was at the door?" came my father's voice from a few rooms over. I took a shaky breath.

"Dad?" I called. My dad appeared almost instantly from around a corner, his eyes wide.

"Dani… you… you're here."

I shrugged slightly. "Yep."

"Let's all sit down, hm?" my mom suggested. "How about some tea? You still like the mint stuff?"

"I'm fine," I insisted.

"If you're sure," my mom said, leading me into the living room. Looking around the house made my heart clench painfully. We all sat down around the small room, and my parents both stared at me like I was an alien.

Finally, I decided that we might as well start somewhere. "Before we start talking about anything, I just want to say that I am sorry that I had to leave."

"You didn't have to leave…"

I gave my dad a sad half smile. "Yes, I did. If I hadn't, I may never have made it as far as I have."

"What do you mean?" my mom asked carefully.

"I live in LA. I have my own place, and I work. I just came out with a single that's on the radio now, mom," I explained.

"I haven't heard it," she admitted.

"How did you manage to stay so hidden from us then? We looked you up countless times," my dad wondered.

I bit my lip guiltily. "I changed my last name."

Something like hurt flashed across my father's face. I went wet my lips with my tongue, but found that my whole mouth was strangely dry.

"I'm sorry that I had to hurt you guys. But the fact is that you hurt me first, and couldn't see myself living here for a whole 'nother year," I explained, trying to keep this conversation very adult like. How else would I show my parents that I was all grown up? I knew that they wouldn't believe it if I didn't show them. They would assume that I was just the same as I was when I left. "But I'm not scared anymore. And well… my best friend is the one who suggested I come back here and talk to you guys again."

"Are you… are you still…" My dad didn't seem to be able to get his question out, but I was pretty sure that I knew what he was going to ask me anyway.

"Am I still gay?" I asked, asking if that was his question. He swallowed visibly and nodded. "Yes. You may not believe it, but that actually isn't something someone can change about themselves."

My mother pursed her lips together and exchanged a look with my dad. I took a deep breath.

"And if you can't accept me still, after eleven years, you should probably just tell me now so that I can leave. I've done everything I could in the last eleven years to surround myself with people who build me up, rather than break me down. I don't want to move backwards anytime soon," I explained.

"You have grown up so much," is all my mother said, looking me up and down. I had filled out over the years; gone from a lanky teenager to a curvy woman. My hair was blonde, I had more of a modern style. I was barely the girl they remembered.

I nodded, still waiting for them to tell me whether or not they could accept me for who I was this time around. "Dani, what happened when you reached Austin?"

All those years ago. I took a deep breath. "I did some stuff for a while until I had enough money to get to LA. Figured out what it was like to be alone and to grow up without anyone to help you."

My parents exchanged looks. "We never wanted you to leave, Dani," my dad told me. "We didn't want to lose you like that."

"I know," I answered. "But you wanted me to be someone that I couldn't be, dad. You would have lost me one way or another. This way, I didn't have to constantly be reminded that I wasn't the person you needed me to be. I didn't have to be reminded that you hated who I was."

"We don't hate you," my mom argued.

"I know," I stated, tears coming into my eyes. "But you hated a part of me that I couldn't change. Do you still hate that part of me?"

Ted "Well, we don't love it," my dad answered, "but we don't want you to just completely disappear on us again."

"I won't, but I can't—" I found myself starting to get a little choked up. "—I can't be… I can't completely your daughter again until you can accept that I love girls. Which means, maybe we can talk on Facebook, or you can have my number, but I'm not coming to visit you."

"We understand," my mom agreed, nodding. "You have to understand, Dani, the way we believe is the way we were taught."

"I understand. But the way you believe is also how I was taught, and I still don't share those views. Beliefs aren't truths, you know? You can change them, no matter how embarrassing it may feel," I told them. They nodded.

I left the house a few minutes later, after having given my parents my phone number and my new last name, as well as the only way they could find me online— Danielle. I didn't try to explain the entire reason behind that to them, though.

When I left, I contemplating just going back to the hotel, or going to grab lunch, but then I decided to stop by the Lopez residence. They were always like my second family. I had no idea what happened with Santana after she found that letter— whether or not she told my parents about us, or her parents. I guess I might never find out.

I went to their door next, less nervous after that confrontation with my parents, and knocked. A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal my former girlfriend's mom. "Mrs. Lopez," I greeted, not able to keep away the smile that appeared on my face.

"Dani!" she exclaimed, grabbing my in a hug. I laughed lightly as I hugged her back tightly. "You have to tell us what happened!"

Mr. Lopez had appeared behind his wife during our hug. "Wow, isn't this a big surprise. We thought we would never hear from you again."

"Believe me, I thought the same thing," I admitted. "I just came down here to talk to my parents for the first time in eleven years. It blew over okay, I guess. I guess you know why I ran away?"

The two Latinos exchanged a glance, and then they nodded carefully. "Why don't you come inside, dear, we probably should talk."

I nodded and followed them inside. We sat in the living room, and my heart clenched once again while I was in this house. It felt weird to be in here without Santana.

"Now, we know why you ran away, dear. We saw the note that you wrote to Santana, and she told us everything," Mrs. Lopez explained. "It's a pity that your father couldn't see past such a small thing. When he found out, he tried to blame it on Santana, you see. We haven't really spoken much to your parents since then."

I swallowed thickly. I hadn't want Santana to really be involved with the problem, but I guess as my girlfriend of the time, there wasn't really another option but for her to be involved. "I see."

"Speaking of Santana, have you spoken to her?" Mr. Lopez asked carefully, exchanging a concerned look with his wife.

I pursed my lips. "No. Not since… you know."

"Well we ask because… it seems that a slight coincidence has occurred, my dear. Santana is here," Mrs. Lopez explained.

My mouth went dry again, and my heart squeezed, and my brain got all foggy. "She's _here_?"

"Not in the house, not right now. She said something about going into the woods," Mr. Lopez answered.

I took in a shaky breath. "I—I… it was great to see you guys again, but I really need to go talk to S-Santana."

"Okay," Mrs. Lopez answered. "Just be careful. She's going through some rough things."

I nodded, wondering briefly what those things were. Then I gave them both a hug and hurried out of the house. If Santana was going to the woods, there was only place that she could be going.

When I got out of plain sight, I broke out into a near sprint as I ran through the trees. I wanted to get there before she left to go back to her parents. When I started to approach the area, I slowed. I didn't want to startle her. She likely wasn't expecting me.

When I got to the edge of the clearing, I saw her. She was sitting against the side of our hut, and she had an envelope in her hand. She wasn't crying, but the distant look on her face told me that she definitely had been. Whatever she had read in that envelope had probably made her upset.

Her face, though tear stained, was just as beautiful as I remembered it, and maybe even more so. Her body was a little more filled out, like mine, but she was thinner than me, even if just a little bit. Her raven colored hair was longer than I remember it being, and she had it in more of a layered style than years before.

I contemplated what to say when I walked out of the trees, and finally, I just went for it. I took another step, my heart racing uncontrollably, and spoke, "I almost forgot what it looked like."

* * *

**OH MY GOD TANA WHAT THE HELL WITH THAT CLIFFHANGER?!**

**Ya know me, talking to myself.**

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**Something random for today: I'm in this acting class that goes every thursday, right? And last week we did some scenes from some TV shows I'd never heard of and I was like OMG WHAT IF WE DO GLEE SCENES ONE DAY I WILL DIE ND EVERYONE WILL STARE AT ME LIKE IM INSANE.**

**Yeah so it was short but random lol gotta go so.. hope you liked!**

**Have a great day! Please review :D**


	9. A Reunion

**A/N: Here is your next chapter! I had to get this up as soon as I could, because I was worrying for some of y'all's mental health stability ;P You guys are all seriously amazing and I'm so glad that you love this story. Speaking of which, I have a shout out!**

**This shoutout goes to my 50th reviewer... drumroll... user kaitlynscionti ! Thank you all for reviewing! Your reviews make me smile :) Same with PMs and Tweets, they all make me happy :)**

**OH an by the day, in the last chapter, there was like a random "Ted" somewhere in the story, and I just have to say that typos like that occur when I'm writing really fast and my hand hits my track pad on my laptop, and it clicks randomly somewhere else. So the Ted was probably the end of the word "wanted" somewhere else and it just clicked way and I didn't notice before I changed it back. Lol my apologies when I reread that it was so awkward but I was too lazy to change it.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Glee!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

My eyes widened as I heard the voice that had been missing in my life for eleven years. I swallowed thickly as I turned my head to the left a little bit, and I saw her. She had blond hair, like the picture I saw of her on Facebook. Her body was fuller than when she was younger, but it had just the perfect amount of curves. I would be completely lying if I said that she wasn't even sexier than eleven years earlier.

She was wearing a peculiar expression that was a mix of something like terrified and sad. I guess we both hadn't expected to see each other here. Why was she here? She just came out with an amazing song. She was doing better than ever. Why would she come back here?

"Dani," I breathed out, aware that it was barely audible. She was taking slow steps closer to me, and I just watched her carefully. "You look… wow…"

A blush appeared on Dani's cheeks as she stopped in front of me. I stood up, because I didn't want to be looking up at her. "Thanks," she said, avoiding my eyes. "You don't look so bad yourself."

"What… what are you doing here?" I asked her.

"What are you doing here?" she countered, but then she answered. "I saw your parents. They said you went to the woods."

"Okay, but why are you _here_? In Texas?" I asked.

Dani wet her lips and looked up into the sky for a moment, like she was gathering her thoughts. "This is the first time I've been back. I had… I had to talk to my parents."

"Oh," I said.

"What about you?" she asked me.

"I—I… I just had to come back for a little while. I think I had to remind myself why I had been so determined to leave after high school," I answered.

"Did you? Remind yourself?" she asked. I answered with only a shrug. "I…"

I looked at her face carefully.

"I guess we should probably talk," Dani admitted, and I nodded in agreement. By some silent consent, we both walked into our old hut and sat down. It was like some painful memory come back, but Dani was actually sitting right in front of me. My emotions were everywhere, and I wasn't even sure how I felt right now. "What do you want to know first?"

I blinked, not really expecting that. "I know that you live in LA," I told her. "I heard your song on the radio, and I looked you up with your new name. You looked happy."

Dani made an O shape with her mouth and her gaze dropped to the blanket next to me. "I am happy," she answered. "I never thought any of my music would get out there."

"I did," I admitted, and she met my eyes to smile at me.

"Thanks. So, what do you want to know? I don't know where to start. I assume you already know about what happened the night before I left. I know you got my note. You probably know about the car, too," Dani reasoned. I nodded. "I guess I'll just start there."

"Okay," I agreed, my voice small. I felt like this couldn't even be real.

"I went into the city after I left my mom's car. I got a couple of jobs that I didn't really need an address for and made some cash so that I could afford to get a PO box. Once I had one, I could get some better jobs. It took five years for me to get out of Austin. I was almost surprised that my parents hadn't managed to find me while I was still in the state," Dani admitted. "I changed my last name before I flew to LA. I didn't want it to be a big change, you know? Taylor is not much different than Tyler."

I nodded, waiting to hear the rest of the story.

"When I got to LA, I realized that I had no plan, no people to help me. It was really hard. After a while of trying really hard but getting no where, I went to a gay bar, with a fake ID that I had somehow gotten. I met this guy named Davis there, told him my whole story. Well… minus a lot of stuff I guess," she said, digressing a little bit.

"Like what? Me?" I wondered.

Dani met my eyes and she nodded, looking a little ashamed. "Yeah… I… well, I'll get there. He told me that I could stay with him and he would help me get on my feet. He helped me find a job, and I bought a car. Then an apartment. Then, last year, I started pursuing a career as a singer. And Davis, he is a manager for a living, so he kind of became mine, for a bit of a discount. It took a while, but we finally got my voice out there."

I nodded. "I liked your song."

"Thanks," she said, giving me a half smile. "Anyway… I didn't tell Davis about you, because I…" She squeezed her eyes closed and took a deep breath, which sounded shaky to me. It looked like she was going to cry, and I just wanted to hold her and tell her it would be okay. I resisted though, and held my ground. "Santana, I didn't want to leave you."

I nodded.

"I just… I couldn't stay here. And you never would've run away," Dani told me. "It was the hardest thing that I've ever done in my life."

"I tried to forget about you," I admitted. "After high school, I mean. My senior year was shit, actually. A lot of shit happened after you left. My parents were totally cool with me being gay, as opposed to yours, who were sure that I'd turned you into a lesbian. My grandma disowned me, though. I lost a lot of friends. Didn't have a prom date. Things like that."

Now, I felt like I was going to cry. I took shaky breath.

"I got into NYU. Graduated with my bachelor degree in music. By then, I'd pretty much perfected blocking any thought of you out of my mind. I went after a recording contract, met my competition for it, totally freaked out. Then she got it, and I had anger sex with her about it."

Dani raised an eyebrow at me, and though I suddenly felt really embarrassed about admitting that, seeing her eyebrow raised gave me the most familiar feeling I'd had since she got here. I almost smiled about it, but I kept myself on track with the story.

"Anyway, I tried for some more after that, but I didn't get anything. By then, I had a new best friend. This girl named Rachel. She's big on Broadway, and she owned this diner really close to the theater. She sold half of it to me for cheap, so I'm like co-owner of it and I'm also a manager there, so that's what keeps me from being broke. I had a girlfriend named Brittany for a couple of years. She uh, left me last week. It wasn't meant to be," I said, before finishing with, "I decided to move into a smaller place, and come here for a break from my life. I have no idea what I'm doing. Plus… lately, I can't get the past out of my head, even after I blocked it for so long."

Dani nodded slowly, as if processing everything that I'd just said. Then she spoke, "I've hated Julys for the past ten years. I always spend them crying and sleeping. You might've been able to forget me for a while, but I couldn't ever do it. I've never spent a July 15th doing anything other than crying."

That took me by complete surprise. I swallowed thickly. "Really?"

She nodded, and the let out a sad laugh. "Just ask Davis. I never told him why until this past one. Happy belated birthday, by the way."

I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face. "Thank you."

"Davis found a picture of you a couple of days ago, in my closet. He found you on Facebook," she admitted. "All we saw was your profile picture and that you'd just gotten out of a relationship."

I nodded, not exactly sure what to say next. Finally, I just decided on, "I like your hair."

A smile spread across Dani's face. "Thanks."

"So, did you go and see your parents?" I asked. Her smile disappeared.

"Yeah. They weren't exactly pleased to hear that I'm 'still' a lesbian," Dani answered. "But they didn't want me to leave without giving them my new phone number and stuff."

My heart rate picked up, which was saying something, considering that it'd already been beating like a million beats per minute, at the thought of getting Dani's new phone number. Would she give it to me? Could we be Facebook now? "Ah…"

"I went over to your parents house after I talked to mine. Told them some stuff about what'd happened. They said it was a coincidence that I'd shown up, because you had as well. I almost had a heart attack," she admitted.

"Tell me about it," I agreed, letting out a little bit of a laugh.

"It's kind of funny," she commented. "I told you that if we ever saw each other again, it would be here."

I gave her a smile and nodded. "You did, didn't you?" She returned my smile.

She nodded toward the letter that I still had in my grip. "What's that? When I got here, it looked like you'd been crying."

I inhaled sharply and looked at the letter in my hand. "Well, I wanted to go and talk to my Abuela for the first time since she disowned me. And, ah… she got um… sick last year and passed away. She didn't want my parents to tell me, but she wrote me this. I came here to read it."

Dani frowned. "What did it say?"

"She said she regretted everything she said to me and…" I wiped at my cheeks, even though there weren't any tears there yet. "I just really wish that I'd kept in touch with them over the years, because I could've… I could've been there, you know?"

Dani nodded. "I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "It's not your fault."

"Yeah, but I'm still sorry," she said, giving me a sympathetic look.

We sat there in silence for a few moments, both unsure what exactly we should say to one another. It looked like she was about to say something, but then her phone went off. She grabbed it quickly and sighed. "I have to take this," she told me.

I nodded; it wasn't like I could argue with her.

She answered the call. "Hey, Davis. Yep. Tomorrow, I think. Can you? Thanks. Um… can we talk about that later? Yeah. _Later_ Davis. Yes I did. Shut up, okay? I'll call you tonight." She hung up, and I raised an eyebrow at her. "He just wanted to know when I'm going back to LA."

"Tomorrow?" I asked. She nodded.

"There isn't a point in me staying here. I did what I came to do," Dani explained. "When are you going back to New York?"

I shrugged. "I have a ticket out of here for the day after tomorrow. Though I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do until then. And I don't really know what I'm going to do when I'm back in New York. I'm pretty sure I'm in an early midlife crisis."

Dani's gaze left mine and she looked up at the ceiling, as if she was willing for the courage to say something. "How long can you stay out of New York?"

"As long as I want," I answered. "Being an owner of a business has its perks."

"Okay well this is going to sound crazy," Dani started, "but maybe you can come to LA with me."

I blinked. It did sound crazy. "What?"

She rolled her eyes, more at herself than at me. "Never mind. That was stupid. Let's pretend that I didn't ask that."

"No wait," I argued. "Why do you want me to come to LA with you?"

She shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. "You don't know what to do with your life, right? And New York City might be the city of dreams, but LA is the city of angels."

"Do you even believe in angels?" I countered, raising an eyebrow at her. She gave me a sly smile.

"You don't have to, of course. I just… I really have missed you Santana, for the past eleven years. It might always be the worst in July, but I haven't ever stopped missing you. And… I'd like to get to know you again," Dani told me. I smiled at the blonde, and she grinned at me. "So?"

"I guess I trust you enough," I joked, and she grinned wider.

"Let me call Davis back," she told me, "I have to tell him to make it two tickets on the flight tomorrow."

As she pulled out her phone, her eyes very clearly dropped down to my chest for a moment, but she pulled them away when she started calling Davis. I nearly smirked as my cheeks reddened.

I couldn't believe that I was actually going to go to LA with Dani.

* * *

**Whaat whaat whaat! If I'm being completely honest, I didn't know that Santana was going to LA with Dani until I wrote this. I totally had a different direction to go, but when I was writing that phone call between Davis and Dani I was like YEA NOPE SANTANA HAS TO GO TO LA OK**

**Like it? Love it? Haaate it? Please let me know in a quick review! Orrr a PM :D also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this story and I shall follow you baaaack c: Twitter is an awesome place for you to bother me about updates, or see how crazy I am or just stalk my tweets. Ya know, things like that. Do it c:**

**Possibly a RIMS update tonight, but don't count on it :( I need to get my sleeping schedule a little under control, just for this week, because I've gotta be up at 6 on Tuesday and on Saturday AND on Sunday, so I need to start trying to go to sleep earlier. Bleh. Not sure how I'm going to do that, considering that I took a two hour nap today lol... Yeah, so I'm a little sleep deprived :P I'll have ta figure out how to fix my sleep schedule ugh. I keep going to bed at 3 and waking up super late. Stahp Tana stahp!**

**I wrote a sort of sad scene before I posted this, and all of these sad songs were coming on my Pandora, and I nearly started crying okay ;_; I get way too emotional sometimes lol. I have a good excuse though, I'm PMSing yay me. Lol sorry for that TMI but you all know me, I have no shame in announcing such things. xP**

**Haha speaking of PMSing, I have a funny story! It's from a few months ago, before summer vaca. I may have told this story before on a different A/N, but ah well. So like at lunch last year, most of us at our table were girls, but there were two guys that sat with us everyday. But us girls would just start having super casual conversations about periods and tampons and pads and discussing our opinions on which are better etc etc... and the guys would actually like join in the conversations and one time, one of them said something like, "One day some girl is going to be asking a question about what kind of tampon is better and I'm going to be able to fully answer that question" and omg sorry it was so funny XD Actually it was probably funnier if you were there but it's so true bc yeah...**

**Told you, I tell TMI all the time. Speaking of that, though, if my friends ever read my A/Ns or something, they're probably going to be terrified about all of the stories I've told about them haha..**

**Sorry I've talked way too much! :P Have a great night my lovelies! Please review :)**


	10. A Flight

**A/N: Update :) Your reviews and feedback have all been amazing :) Thank you all so much =D**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Glee!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

Santana and I drove down to Austin in our respective rental cars of course, but we met up again when we got to the airport. It was a little of a surreal experience. I had no idea what to expect from all of this. I felt almost like a crazy person when I asked Santana to come back to LA with me, and even more crazy when I told Davis to book two plane tickets instead of one.

We retrieved our tickets from one of the kiosks in the airport and then we headed to security, not really talking. I hoped that she wasn't having second thoughts about this. I wasn't even sure why I thought that this was a good idea. She felt like she'd basically been like "Hey so I know I totally abandoned you eleven years ago, but why don't you come across the country from where you live and stay with me for a little bit?". She was really hoping that Santana wasn't freaked out by this.

They got to their gate and sat down in the area of seats next to it, waiting for the plane to start boarding. "You'd think we'd have more to say to each other," she commented.

Santana let out a light laugh. "Yeah. You'd think."

"Are you angry with me?" I asked carefully.

She gave me a curious look. "For what?"

"Abandoning you. Eleven years ago," I answered, feeling my eyebrows knit together as I gave her a worried look.

Santana shrugged and shook her head. "I wasn't ever really angry at all. Just really heartbroken."

"Are you still heartbroken?" I asked her quietly.

"I don't know," she answered, that was enough to make my heart hurt. On one hand, if she was heartbroken still, it would mean that she might still have feelings for me. On the other hand, it could just mean that she was still hurt for what I did to her, in which case she might not really want to reconcile with me.

I shook that thought from my head. She agreed to come to LA with me, someone she hadn't seen in eleven years. Clearly, Santana didn't have too many hard feelings against me. "So, tell me about your best friend. Rachel, right?"

Santana smiled. "Yeah. She's really actually annoying. I got a job at the diner she owned a long while ago, and at first I hated her. She talks to fast and she always sounds like she's lecturing people when she's just talking. Not to mention she's creepily obsessed over Broadway and stuff but, she and I got really close, somehow. We both had some hard things in our pasts and one time when we were both having a bad night, we just talked and talked for hours and now we're best friends. She also helped me a lot when I was slipping."

I nodded, glad that Santana had someone like that in her life, even if she felt that her life was kind of falling apart like she'd described previously. "She sounds nice."

"You'd like her," Santana decided, and I just smiled at her. "Tell me about Davis?"

"Oh, he's great. Super hilarious, of course, but he's also really sweet and he always knows how to cheer me up. Though lately he keeps waking me up super early in the morning, which is starting to get crazy annoying. He's also my manager, so," I explained, shrugging. Santana nodded.

"He's gay?"

"Yep," I confirmed, nodding my head. "And by the way, when he meets you, please just don't freak out when he freaks out. He's been asking me questions about you for like a week now and I think he's starting to become obsessed."

Santana laughed. "Don't worry, I'm used to people being obsessed with me," she joked, winking at me and causing my heart to nearly explode in my chest. I bit back a grin, and was about to say something, when the announcer for the gate called up all first class passengers. That was me and Santana.

"C'mon, weirdo," I teased, and we stood up and dragged our bags with us to the entrance to the plane. I handed both of our tickets off to the ticket collector and he nodded for us to go through, handing them back. I passed Santana hers and we headed onto the plane. "How's New York, anyway?" I wondered. That was always where I was going to go, before I left anyway. When I was able to leave Texas, I guess New York had just sounded too big and scary for me.

"It's just like how people say it is. People are noisy and assholes. It's always cold and people are always honking. Subways are always full. I used to have trouble sleeping every night when I first moved into my apartment. It's always so damn loud everywhere," she explained, and I chuckled as I found our seats. I slid my bag into the overhead bin and took my seat by the window, and Santana did the same before taking the seat next to mine. "But I love it, you know? It's always where I wanted to end up."

"I know," I answered, smiling at her.

"LA?" she asked, smiling knowingly at me.

"LA is a dream, really. There's something glamorous and yet simple about it. Plus it's always warm, which is good considering that I was used to that after living in Texas," I explained, smiling at the thought of the city.

"Do you shop on Rodeo Drive?" Santana asked teasingly.

"Oh I wish I had enough money to shop there," I answered, rolling my eyes. "Maybe one day."

"Maybe," Santana agreed teasingly. We stopped talking for a while and sat in a comfortable silence, which I was a little grateful for. At least it wasn't an awkward silence.

As the plane started to take off, I started to fall asleep against the window. Just my luck of course.

_"__Close your eyes," Santana warned for the fifteenth time._

_"__Santana, they're closed!" I insisted, rolling my eyes under my eyelids. I already knew where we were going, of course, but the surprise was whatever was there. We were going to our spot. It was my birthday, and Santana had insisted that she wanted to do something special for it. Today I was seventeen. My birthday was, luckily, on a Saturday this year, because we had finals all week next week and the previous week at school, so I was grateful to get a weekend day as my birthday._

_"__Okay, step over this," Santana directed, and I figured we were coming into the clearing the same way we always did, because there was always this big root to step over. I carefully stepped over it and she pulled me out of the trees and into the clearing. "Alright we're almost there."_

_"__I know," I teased._

_"__Close your eyes!"_

_"__They're closed!" I exclaimed, having fun messing with my girlfriend._

_We stopped when we were probably standing right by the hut. "Okay, you can open them now."_

_I opened my eyes and saw a picnic spread out in front of the hut. There was a little lantern giving off light, which was good, considering that it was getting dark. It almost looked like a candle light. "Ooh," I said, giving Santana an excited smile. She rolled her eyes playfully at me, and we both sat down on the blanket spread out on the ground._

_There was a plastic bag also sitting on the blanket. "What's in that?" I asked her._

_"__Food," she replied, grinning widely at me and opening the bag, producing two packages of rolled sushi from it. I grinned widely._

_"__Yes, sushi!" I exclaimed, snatching one of the packages from her and getting her to laugh slightly at me._

_"__Pig," she insulted playfully, and I rolled my eyes back at her. Before we ate, we both slipped off out shoes and sat side by side while we ate, leaning against the hut as our legs tangled together in front of us. I sighed happily and leaned my head against her shoulder._

_"__What do you think New York is going to be like?" I asked her. "We're gonna be there in a year."_

_"__I think it's going to be amazing," Santana answered, sounding as though she were dreaming about it as she spoke, and she probably was. I smiled fondly._

_"__Maybe one day, when we're rich and famous, we can have a vacation house near LA for the summers," I mused. "So we can get out of the cold."_

_"__I guess that would be the only way we'd ever get to see each other in bikinis, huh?" Santana teased, and I couldn't help but grin._

_"__Exactly," I agreed, laughing. "Wouldn't that be awesome, though?"_

_"__Doing anything with you in the future is awesome," Santana said, and I blushed, even though she wasn't looking straight at me. We finished eating and set out empty sushi packages aside. We looked up at the stars that were starting to appear high above us. "Happy birthday, Dani."_

_"__Thanks, babe," I replied, sighing happily. "I can't wait to have a future with you, Santana."_

_"__Neither can I," she agreed, holding me closer to her as we watched the stars._

I woke up with a start, probably about halfway through our plane trip. Santana must've noticed me jump awake, because she gave me a curious look. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I answered, stretching my neck a little after sleeping I such an awkward position.

"What were you dreaming about?" Santana wondered. I bit my lip, wondering what to say.

"My seventeenth birthday," I finally admitted. Santana raised an eyebrow at me.

"I remember that," she commented. "We had sushi."

I grinned. "Yes, we did."

"Do you dream about the past a lot?" Santana wondered.

"Not as much as I have recently," I admitted, shrugging. Santana furrowed her eyebrows slightly, and I gave her a curious look. "Why? What?"

"It's just… lately _every_ time I got to sleep, I dream about something in the past. I have no idea why. It's like it's all been haunting me… or taunting me… I don't even know," she muttered. My brain did a quick analysis on the situation and seemed to decide that somehow this was like fate trying to get me and Santana back together. Although the idea definitely sounded promising and nice or whatever, I pushed it away for now.

"That's weird," I commented. "Didn't you just break up with your girlfriend? Could that be why?"

"It started right before that," she said, shaking her head. "And anyway, I didn't break up with her. She broke up with me."

"Why?" I asked, my tone making it clear that I was flabbergasted that anyone would ever break up with Santana. Though, I had technically done the same thing once.

"She said that we were both getting older and she didn't see us working out in the long run so she thought we should both be looking for someone we knew we could see a future with," Santana explained, sighing. "I mean, I guess I knew it wasn't meant to be with her. But she broke up with me on my birthday. Harsh, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's rough," I agreed, although I wasn't particularly upset about Santana's recent breakup. If Santana was single, that was just better for me, right? "Hey, how long was I asleep?"

"Most of the flight. We should be there pretty soon," Santana answered.

Just as she finished talking, the pilot announced our upcoming arrival at LAX.

* * *

**Sort of just a filler chapter... :P**

**Likee? Lovee? Hatee? Please let me know in a quick review, or a nice lil PM :D Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this story and I will follow you back! =D Lately I've followed so many Emison shippers that I need a little more Dantana shippers on my TL :P**

**I spent my weekend at this camp thing for freshmen- I was helping out -and I am soooo tired so I'm going to skip my random stuff and hurry up and do what I have to do before I can just relax haha...**

**Goodnight lovelies! Please review :D**


	11. An Apology

**A/N: I know this is so late, and I can't promise that the next chapter won't be this late... I'm in a bit of a Glee writer's block (if you read my PLL Emison stories, you might've seen me mention that)... I was determined today, however, to write out chapter 12 of this story so that I could post chapter 11 for you guys. c:**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Glee!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW! All mistakes are mine xP**

* * *

Once off the plane, we headed into the pickup area and Dani led me somewhere based off something she was looking at her on her phone. We didn't talk, though, as we made our way out of the airport. When we headed into the parking lot, I figured that Dani had driven herself to the airport.

"Here we are," the blonde stated as we approached a car. She popped the trunk and we both put our bags inside the small space, before she closed it and headed toward the drivers side. I slipped into the passenger side, and tried to calm my nerves. I knew that this would be weird, and it sort of all felt against my better judgment. But there really wasn't another option at this point, and it wasn't like I needed to be anywhere else.

"So," Dani started, as she started the car and pulled out of the parking space, "I don't really have a guest bedroom, but my couch does fold out into a bed."

"Okay," I answered, before swallowing thickly.

"Are you okay?" Dani asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm okay. This just… this feels kind of…"

"Weird? Crazy? Insane? Psychotic?" Dani asked. "Trust me, I know."

I took a slightly deep breath. "What do you have to be doing for the next couple of weeks?"

"Nothing," Dani admitted, "which I guess is another reason why I invited you here. I don't have to go back into the studio for a couple more weeks, but they haven't given me a completely set date yet."

"Are you recording another single?" I wondered, and she shook her head.

"Actually, I'm getting my album started," she admitted, shrugging. "But don't tell the press yet," she added jokingly.

"Your secret is perfectly safe with me," I promised, not able to help the smile that slowly grew onto my face.

"I hope so," Dani joked, giving me a half smile before gluing her eyes back to the road. We didn't talk much for the rest of the drive, and I mostly just stared out of the window and at the city around me. I'd never been to LA. Actually, I'd never really been anywhere besides Texas and New York. This place was definitely much more glamorous looking than New York City, which was, of course, amazing, just in a different sense.

"I can see how you could fall in love with this place," I finally said. Dani smiled, and suddenly we were pulling into a parking space in a small lot outside of a small apartment building. "This is where you live?"

"It's not a big high rise or anything special, but yep," Dani answered, nodding as she finished parking the car and took her key out of the ignition. "Come on."

So I followed suit as she got out of the car, and found that she'd already popped the trunk to allow us to grab our bags out. Once we had everything, she closed the trunk, locked the car, and we were heading for the building.

"What's your place in New York like?" she wondered.

"Well, it's in a building a lot bigger than this," I muttered. "The one I just bought it really small, but a couple weeks ago I had a bigger one."

"That one was for you and that Brittany, right?" Dani questioned, and I nodded in confirmation.

"Didn't need one so big without anyone to share it with. Plus, now I live in the same building as Rachel," I explained, shrugging. "Honestly, I'm really happy with how things played out after Brittany left."

"Why?" Dani wondered, and we entered the building, heading now for the elevator that would take us up to Dani's apartment. I was starting to get a little nervous again.

"Because if she hadn't left, I might not have gone to Texas. I would not have seen my parents again, or learned that my Abuela had died," I listed, swallowing thickly before adding, "and wouldn't have seen you again."

"Maybe it was all for the best then," Dani concluded casually, though I was pretty sure that I could sense her heart rate pick up. Or maybe that was just mine.

We got in the elevator and it took us to the top level, the fourth floor, and I followed Dani down the hall and to her apartment. After fumbling for a moment for her keys, she unlocked the place and let us both in.

"Home sweet home," she stated, dragging her bag into the apartment. I entered immediately after, looking around the apartment. It was small, but a little bigger than my new one. It looked newer as well, and homier.

"I like it," I stated, looking around the place.

"You can leave your bag by the couch if you want," Dani said, before disappearing into her bedroom for a moment. I nodded slowly, walking over to the couch and dropping my bag next to it. I sat on the thing and looked around carefully. I had no idea what exactly I was doing here. Suddenly, I blinked, and it was as though something brought me back in time for a moment.

_"__What is it?" I questioned, looking at Dani's laptop screen. The thing was sitting carefully on her lap, and we were sitting inside our hut in our spot._

_"__An apartment," she answered, rolling her eyes at me. "See?"_

_"__They have programs that make apartments on a computer?" I asked, giving her a weird look._

_Dani huffed, "You're missing the point, babe! Look, here's the living room, and the kitchen. Through this door is the bedroom." She was speaking as she clicked through a virtual reality apartment unit on her laptop. The bedroom she was speaking of was small, but there was a big double bed in the middle._

_"__Okay, what's it for?" I questioned._

_"__This is one of the basic layouts for apartments in New York," Dani explained, and I felt like I was starting to catch on. "And this program is a decorating program. So we can change things out, like paint and furniture. Like a decoration plan."_

_I nodded, understanding. "Well, we definitely can't have beige walls," I stated, assuring her that I now knew exactly what the point of this was. _

_"__Obviously not," she agreed, before she grinned at me and pulled up a color palette. We started picking and choosing colors for the walls and different furniture to replace the default options on the program. We giggled and talked excitedly as we did so, meshing both of our wants and favorites into the decoration of our virtual apartment. When we were finished, we both leaned back against the wall of our hut and sighed happily._

_"__What do you think it'll be like to really live together?" I asked her._

_"__Well, it'll be a lot different than not living together," she answered, shrugging. "A lot better, of course. I can't believe we still have to wait a year, though."_

_"__I know," I agreed, sighing. "I wish we could just skip senior year and go straight to New York. Which is crazy, because four years ago, I was only ever looking forward to senior year. I was oblivious to a future after high school. Now, all I want is that future."_

_"__We'll have it all some day, you know?" Dani promised, turning her head to the right to face me. I gave her a small smile. "The apartment, the jobs, the money."_

_"__We will, huh?" I asked her teasingly._

_"__You wanna know the best part?" she asked, grinning from ear to ear. I nodded and raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to tell me. "We are going to have each other. And we won't have to hide from anybody or pretend to be people we aren't."_

_"__Sounds like paradise," I admitted._

_"__Tell me that again when we have it all," Dani instructed, winking at me._

_"__I'll be sure to do that," I agreed, chuckling and leaning my head on her shoulder as she looked back at her computer and saved our apartment project._

Blinking, I let out a little sigh. She had been so sure that summer. So sure that a year later, we were going to be in New York, together. Nothing would've been able to stop her from getting there. Nothing, of course, besides her parents. I still hated them for what they did.

I blinked back some tears and took a deep breath. It was going to be really hard to get through this time with Dani without crying like a baby in front of her. Being around her, talking to her… it brought up more and more memories. Things that I could remember with ease, but had always purposely avoided thinking about. I wondered if it was doing the same to her.

"Are you okay?" Dani asked me suddenly, sounding concerned. I hadn't heard her coming out of her bedroom.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking," I answered, taking in another deep breath.

"What about?" she wondered, sitting on the opposite end of the couch and facing me. I turned so that I was opposite her position.

"The summer before you left," I admitted.

She carefully wet her lips. "Anything specific?"

"Yep," I answered, glancing around her apartment again. "When you showed me that design program."

She smiled at the memory. "I remember that. I still have it somewhere on my laptop," she admitted.

I nodded. "It's so weird. You were so sure that we were going to have it all," I started, meeting Dani's brown eyes, "and a few short months later, it was all gone. Just like that."

She nodded in agreement, but her eyes stayed locked with mine. "It was the hardest part. Throwing away everything that we had."

I clenched my jaw and tried to hold back my tears the best way I could. I hadn't cried much since my senior year. When I went to New York, I steeled away all of the emotions that made me want to cry. I didn't want to ever be vulnerable again. I couldn't remember a time since then that I'd cried for longer than a few minutes. And I wasn't going to start up again now.

It made sense, though. I was sitting in front of the one person who I had ever been completely vulnerable with. "Santana, I'm _really sorry_," she said suddenly, and her throat sounded tight, her voice coming out choked, as though she were holding back her own tears.

"You don't have to—"

"_Yes_, I do," she countered. "I haven't said it yet, not about what happened. Out of everyone in Texas, you were the person that I should've kept in touch with. I still have your number from back then memorized by heart. I could've called you when I got to Austin, as soon as I had a new phone."

"Dani—"

**_DANI_**

I took a shaky breath and shook my head. I had to say all of these things, or else Santana staying here was going to get really awkward really fast. "I knew that I was throwing away my future with you when I left, but I was so sure that you would bounce back and create a new future. I didn't think hard enough about the fact that you loved me just as much as I loved you. Maybe at that time, I was doubting it a little bit, because you didn't want to run away with me. I don't know what was going through my mind back then. I was a mess, I was broken. I wish I hadn't had to break you, too."

"You don't have to lay it all out for me," Santana argued, "I understand why you left."

"You understand," I agreed, "but you can't forgive me unless I apologize."

"I already—"

"No, you haven't," I insisted. "Trust me. You won't ever really forgive me for leaving you, and I won't ever forgive myself either."

"I already forgave you," Santana promised me. "It took me a long while, but somewhere along the way, I dunno… I just realized that your parents could've sent you off to those stupid places were they try to convert gays or something. They could've made your life a living hell. We all have to think of ourselves sometimes, Dani."

"You don't have to defend me," I choked out.

"I'm not defending you," she insisted, "I'm just telling the truth."

I didn't mean to let a tear fall out of my eye, and I quickly wiped it away before it could call for more. I sniffed slightly. "Sorry. I just…"

"Don't apologize for crying, Dani," Santana insisted. "One of the things I've always loved about you is that you're not afraid to feel. So don't stop feeling now."

My heart began to race in my chest, and another loose tear fell from my eyes. I blinked in surprise, not expecting anymore to fall, only causing a few more to fall.

Suddenly, Santana wrapped her arms around me, holding me in a soft embrace. I cried into her shoulder, and even though she was silent, I knew that she was crying, too. She was just too proud to admit it. We held each other for a little while, until we were both free of tears. We pulled apart and Santana gave me a soft smile, and I saw the dried tears on her cheek. We both wiped our tears from our face. It was surprising how beautiful she looked even after she'd been crying.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door. I inhaled sharply, surprised. "Davis?" I called, expecting no other. To no one's surprise, the door busted open to reveal my best friend, who was wearing a massive grin.

* * *

**Aw aw aw aw Dantana c:**

**Let me know your thoughts in a quick review or a PM c: Pleeeease :D Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I will follow you back =DDD**

**Again, I am so sorry this is so late :c hopefully, my writer's block will go away sometime soon. (Writer's block is also responsible for me not updating my Quinntana story either)... In fact, last weekend when I finished California Dream, that was like me forcing my way through a bit of writer's block I had on that story too... which is what I had to do to get this up for you guys. :D**

**Have a great day my lovelies! Please review! c:**


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